Guys what are your thoughts? Update!

[Baby France]

I work in a teaching environment, my students are over the age of 16 though. I would get sacked if I started a relationship with them.

For her, I get that she has feelings for her teacher, crushes etc...but when you are in that position of trust you NEVER look at a student in that way IMO. Its never crossed my mind...even when I was of similar age to the people I were teaching 8 years ago.

For him to look at her in that way is a complete abuse of his position in trust. If in five years time they met up, then *maybe* I would be a bit more understanding. He is a role model for her, teaching her and helping her through her SCHOOL years.

Would he feel the same towards a 12 year old? Would you feel the same then, how do you know that he's not looked at a 12 year old in the same light? IMO in that position the glasses you wear as a teacher are completely different to the glasses you wear outside of that position IYKWIM?

 

[summer rain]

^WSS

 

[TattiesMum]

I can remember being 15 - and I remember my own girls at the same age ... virtually every boyfriend was 'The One' ... if a (to a 15 year old) 'cool' teacher had responded to a schoolgirl crush I'd have thought I'd died and gone to heaven

If I'd thought that people were trying to split us up then I'd have seen it as some kind of 'forbidden love' drama - Romeo & Juliet ... the greatest love story ever told. That's what 15 year olds think like - even mature ones

BUT he's a 30 year old for God's sake - he was in a position of authority and he abused that completely. He's quite obviously a completely immature inadequate but that's hardly an excuse for manipulating a vulnerable young girl in his care, then (at best) 'encouraging' her to leave her family without a word and leave the country (illegally as her parent's hadn't consented) without any financial resources of her own.

That's pure abuse stuff right there ... 'true love' doesn't involve isolating someone from family and friends and ensuring that they have no financial means to so much as leave your side.

I'm completely bewildered by some of the comments I've seen elsewhere about true love and Megan consenting to go - like she is just as culpable as he is. I can't help but wonder what the same commentors would be saying if this had been a 15 year old boy and his 30 year old married male teacher.

 

[special_kala]

I can remember being 15 - and I remember my own girls at the same age ... virtually every boyfriend was 'The One' ... if a (to a 15 year old) 'cool' teacher had responded to a schoolgirl crush I'd have thought I'd died and gone to heaven

If I'd thought that people were trying to split us up then I'd have seen it as some kind of 'forbidden love' drama - Romeo & Juliet ... the greatest love story ever told. That's what 15 year olds think like - even mature ones

BUT he's a 30 year old for God's sake - he was in a position of authority and he abused that completely. He's quite obviously a completely immature inadequate but that's hardly an excuse for manipulating a vulnerable young girl in his care, then (at best) 'encouraging' her to leave her family without a word and leave the country (illegally as her parent's hadn't consented) without any financial resources of her own.

That's pure abuse stuff right there ... 'true love' doesn't involve isolating someone from family and friends and ensuring that they have no financial means to so much as leave your side.

I'm completely bewildered by some of the comments I've seen elsewhere about true love and Megan consenting to go - like she is just as culpable as he is. I can't help but wonder what the same commentors would be saying if this had been a 15 year old boy and his 30 year old married male teacher.

(nice to see you back )

 

[Jem_x3]

I'm glad she's been found. As for Mr. Forrest, he will learn a very valuable lesson from this. No matter where he goes, he will be vilified for this for the rest of his life. He has ruined his career, his life and his relationship with his family. He has humiliated and deeply hurt his wife, who was obviously besotted with him. They were only married for a year. She would blog about their adventures together and how she was planning the next stages in their life together, all the while he was trying to seduce a 14 year old girl. He should be deeply ashamed of himself. The fact he was strolling down a road with her hand in hand showed that he obviously didn't care. He made no effort to get in contact with her family, apologise to his wife. He was trying to set up a new life and get a job. It's just bizarre. He obviously thought he wouldn't be caught and prosecuted in France and that disturbs me to no end. I'm very glad that wasn't the case.

As for Megan, well she's going to think the whole world is against her now and hate everyone for tearing them apart but in time she will see that what they did was the completely wrong thing to do. I really hope she gets the support and help she needs to move on and live her life and do all those things she wanted to do that she wrote in her own blog. She actually has a chance at life and to make it wonderful.

It's sad these things have to happen but there is absolutely no excuse for a teacher who is taking care of children to be even thinking about that kind of relationship. A teacher is not there to be a boyfriend, girlfriend or even a friend. They are there to guide, care, teach and help children move on to the next stage in their life with the knowledge they need to get where they want to be. Teachers should be setting an example of what's right and wrong. I know all of his students said he was cool and what not but there is a line and it can be blurred so easily, as seen in this case... Not to say I think he should go down for a very long time as I think what to happen is going to be more than enough punishment, but it needs to be seen that this behaviour is not acceptable in any way, shape or form.

 

[bluebell]

I met and started a relationship with my DH when I was 15 although we didn't DTD until I was 16. All I know is that 15 years on I couldn't be happier and we knew we were meant to be together from Day 1.

Obviously the way they have gone about this is madness, but I honestly think that 15 year olds are often mature enough to know their own minds (and I'm talking from experience )

xx

 

[JASMAK]

I knew shit all at 15.

 

[Baby France]

I've a friend who is with the same guy she was with when she was 15...15 years later. BUT her hubby is only 2 years older than her and hasn't been dragged miles away from her family.

Its just completely and utterly wrong of him to look at her in that light. His *roaming eye* should NEVER have been switched on in the work environment.

Completely agree with Tatties mum too

 

[lhancock90]

I met OH at 16. He was a massive part in my decision to move back to Wolves with my Mom, change schools, friends etc. Everyone said i was stupid but i knew my own mind. Almost 6 years, 2 kids, a cat, a dog, a house and a proposal on? I was right.

 

[Jem_x3]

I get that people can fall in love young.. but he's twice her age. He's her TEACHER. He took her to a foreign country. He had no intention of bringing her back. He didn't contact anyone, his wife or her PARENTS. Something which he will more than likely be one day. I wonder how he'd feel if his 15 year old daughter did the same thing..?

I'm sorry but this is a completely different scenario. Not to mention this started when she was 14. She is a child, still with plenty of schooling left to do. She used her Mother's passport to leave a country. She is not old enough to have sex, smoke, drink or go to a foreign country without her parents consent, and there is a reason for that. Because at that age you are not responsible, you are a child and your parents are the ones who are meant to look after you. Not some 30 year old man who's intentions are more than just looking after her as a daughter or pupil, obviously.

 

[suzib76]

I cant believe anyone thinks this is ok

It started when she was 14 fgs

He is a paedophile


True love, what a load of crap

 

[XcupcakeX]

I don't understand how people can compare falling in love young and age gaps to this. It's a completely different situation! Shes a child, a minor! He is a 30 year old man! If he wasnt her teacher and she was 16, fine. But at 15, 14 when it started, she is a child and thought she was in love. He has abused his position of trust. I feel so sorry for Megan, who obviously thinks she's in love. So what if she led him on (if she did) the law still says she is a child and Jeremy should never have allowed it to happen. He obviously fell for her to do what he did and throw his marriage, career and family away, and no you can't help who you fall for but you can help acting it when it's inappropriate and ILLEGAL. The poor girl now has to get back to some sort of normality. I don't think Jeremy Forrest is a monster but he's made some very stupid mistakes and acted selfishly and immaturely

 

[TattiesMum]

I met my first husband at 16 too - but he was only 2 years older than me and NOT my flaming teacher (or married to someone else).

This man is delusional He apparently took her to France because he believed that with the age of consent being 15 over there they would be able to live together until she turned 16 and then come home because 'it would be legal then'

Firstly where was the concern for her welfare? What about her GCSEs, her A levels, her future? What about her medical needs if she had fallen ill (medical care in France is private don't forget), what about her need to be able to communicate with family and friends or to get away from him if she had changed her mind?

She had no money of her own (and he didn't have much either) ... she was completely dependant on him not abandoning her in a country where she had no legal standing (not even her own bloody passport for goodness sake) and didn't speak the language How, how is that love in any shape or form outside of the pages of a bad teen magazine story?

Secondly - the legal age of consent is not 16 when it comes to pupil/teacher relationships. It's 18 and every teacher should know that! It's 18 here and it's exactly the same in France - this pathetic little inadequate couldn't even do his research properly!

I just can't get my head around people excusing this man ... He started a relationship with a fourteen year old child and if she was my daughter I'd be wanting his bollocks for earrings

 

[babyjan]

I'm reading now how he used a fake identity to try find work in France

 

[Jem_x3]

Yeah, what a romantic story. Him pretending to be someone else working in a bar while Megan is.. what? Sitting at home doing fuck all? Noone to talk to, no family, no friends, no school work, nowhere to go... Probably watching some crappy television for 8 hours of a day. What a sad existence. She should think herself lucky to be found when she was because it wasn't going to be some amazing wonderful love story, and reality soon would have hit home. The man is a loser and will now never amount to anything.

 

[special_kala]

There is a massive difference between 2 children falling in love and staying together and an adult and a child.

I met my husband when we were 15 and are still together but we grew together (well i did lol). a 20 year old and a 40 year old are still 2 adults.

Teenagers are not stable their hormones are crazy, they dont know what their doing. I like to think when i was 15 i was mature and making my own decisons but of course i wasnt i was still a child.

 

[Tasha]

Agree completely with every Jem, Tattiesmum, suzi and kala have said.

What I dont understand is the people who say but he fell for her, in order to fall for her he must of been having an inappropriate relationship already. They should be no oppurtunity for a teacher to 'fall for' a pupil if they are behaving only as a teacher.

 

[lhancock90]

The Suns breaking news is that his wife has left him.
No shit sherlock.

 

[Tasha]

L. But some women wouldnt, look at the man who was a lecturer at Leeds uni and was caught with over 2000 child pornography images on his computer, his wife (also a university lecturer) has stood by him.

 

[babyjan]

Ahh I really feel sorry for his wife