Teacher spared jail after sex with girl, aged 15

A drama teacher who admitted having sex with a 15-year-old girl escaped a jail sentence yesterday after an Old Bailey judge sentenced him to 200 hours community service.

Teachers' leaders said David Kingston, 52, had been lucky not to be jailed and warned that the lenient sentence could send the wrong message.

Kingston had taken his pupil on trips and sent her a Valentine card after befriending her while she worked on the school play. In March 1998 he invited the girl back to his home and had sex with her.

Kingston, who had taught at a London comprehensive for seven years, admitted indecent assault. He had singled the "vulnerable" teenager out and made her his assistant director, the court was told. "She began to confide in him," said Patrick Gibbs, for the prosecution. "Her domestic circumstances were very difficult and she was being bullied at school."

Judge Michael Coombe sentenced Kingston to community service, telling him: "This was a terrible breach of a position of trust." He was put on the sexual offenders register.

Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said: "He does seem to have been extremely fortunate not to be jailed. A harsher sentence might have been more appropriate. It could send out an unfortunate message – that you can do this and keep out of jail."