Married teacher, 55, jailed for having sex with pupil aged 14

A teacher who had sex with a girl aged 14 in his home during an 18-month relationship was jailed for a year on Tuesday.

William Kyle, 55, faces being banned from teaching over the relationship with the pupil, which was discovered when his wife, Lynda, found them together in the couple's Glasgow home. She immediately reported them to police and her husband confessed to the relationship. He claimed he had had sex with the girl only once.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court on Tuesday he was jailed for nine months for having sex with an underage girl and jailed for a year, to run concurrently, for breaching her trust as a teacher. He was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

Sheriff Charles MacFarlane said Kyle had frequently gone back on promises to his school, his wife and the girl's parents that he would distance himself from her. He told Kyle: "By your conduct you flagrantly abused the position of trust in which you found yourself in relation to the complainer.

"You fostered this relationship in a secretive manner, even though you understood it to be wrong and illegal.

"While in the course of this case the conduct of the complainer was not entirely blameless, I consider that girls of her age and position require to be protected, not only from people such as you, but also from themselves," he said.

Last month the court was told he had become friendly with the girl during a school trip to the Netherlands two years ago and they then met in his car at night several times after they returned.

Garry Sweeney, for the defence, said Kyle was "deeply ashamed" and had sought counselling from his doctor and his parish priest.

The General Teaching Council said Kyle could now be struck off the teaching register once its disciplinary committee had investigated the case.

Alan Smith, the president of the Scottish School Board Association, said he was surprised at the leniency of the sentence.

"A sentence of less than two years could mean that he will be out in less than six months. The General Teaching Council should take the necessary steps to ensure that this does not happen again."