Art teacher gets jail term for unlawful sex with pupil, 14,

AN ART teacher was jailed for nine months yesterday after being convicted of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old pupil.

Clive Gilfellon, 50, a father of two, was told by Judge Angus Stroyan at Newcastle Crown Court that he had 'systematically and deliberately' betrayed the trust parents put in teachers. Gilfellon, who began the relationship when the girl was only 13, admitted two specimen charges of unlawful intercourse. The court was told that he fell for her after they flirted whenever they were alone.

He stole his first kiss in class in May 1992 and began heavy petting with her while on a school trip to Germany two months later - with his wife, Denise, 49, in the next room. They began meeting regularly after their return to the UK and started to have sex in Gilfellon's car, parked in lay-bys and country roads in Co Durham.

The pair even continued their affair in Gilfellon's bed at his home at Tow Law, near Stanley, Co Durham. But an investigation began when rumours started at the school.

Detectives discovered that the girl, who cannot be named, wrote about the sex sessions in her diary. Gilfellon resigned from his position after he was arrested.