Simon Taylor 43

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A former school pastoral care manager who groomed and sexually assaulted a teenage pupil has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Simon Taylor, 43, preyed on the vulnerable child at Hethersett Academy despite a written warning from the school for "unprofessional" conduct.

The ex-army veteran, who lost a leg in a 2009 bomb attack in Afghanistan, targeted her after she sought support, presenting himself as "someone other than a teacher" and making her feel she should "only need or want to talk to him."

Initial messages on the school's message board led to the warning, but contact shifted to email and phone, where Taylor sent explicit images, used emotional blackmail, and threatened self-harm if she didn't send pictures.

At Norwich Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to five charges: sexual activity with a child while in a position of trust, two counts of sexual assault by intentional touching, and two counts of sexual communication with a child.

He was sentenced to prison and placed on the sex offenders' register for life.

In a victim statement read in court, she said Taylor had "stolen her childhood," "emotionally destroyed" her, and affected every part of her life. She went from being "confident, outgoing and full of life" to someone who "struggles to leave their bedroom" and lives "in constant fear they would find and harm them." She added: "My childhood was stolen from me. I never had the chance to be a normal teenager."

Prosecutor Isobel Ascherson said Taylor targeted "a particularly vulnerable child," with offending spanning over two years and continuing after she left school. He "groomed" the girl, making her "think that he was the only one who cared or could help her," and "wanted to have sex with (the girl) and wanted to meet outside school." He threatened self-harm if she didn't send images, and in one message wrote: "I look forward to some fun, as long as we’re both looking for fun, we can just have some fun until you find a nice lad hey."

The assaults involved touching her breasts in a car—once while she was a pupil and once after she left. She reported him to police in 2022 and "told his wife what he had done to her."

Taylor, a married father now of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, and formerly of Dereham, served with the Norfolk-based Light Dragoons on four tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. In the 2009 blast, he broke nearly every bone, lost the lower half of his right leg, and was thrown from the vehicle; driver Lance Corporal Richard Brandon died.

After discharge, Taylor fundraised for veterans' charities through events like long-distance mountain bike rides across northern England and the world's longest downhill cycle race in the Alps.

Mitigating, Richard English said Taylor had no further therapeutic intervention post-discharge, "accepts that he has caused great harm," and feels "genuine remorse, sorrow and shame."

Judge Andrew Shaw said Taylor "ignored formal and informal warnings about his behaviour" and "targeted, manipulated and groomed [the victim] into thinking you were the only adult he cared." He praised her "remarkable dignity and courage" while noting the "immeasurable harm" caused.

The Inspiration Trust, which runs Hethersett Academy, said Taylor has not been employed there since July 2021.