He was the married maths teacher who sparked an international manhunt after he went on the run to France with a teenage pupil.
Now Jeremy Forrest is at the centre of a new storm after allegedly cheating on his second wife with a work colleague 15 years his junior who has ended up being forced out of her job as a result of their relationship, can reveal.
Alarmed insiders have highlighted similarities between Forrest’s latest alleged dalliance and the ‘dangerous infatuation’ with a 15-year-old schoolgirl which ended in him serving time in jail as a convicted paedophile.
The fallout from the alleged affair has led to behind-the-scenes turmoil at the long-established family run artisan bakers where Forrest, 42, had quietly established a new life away from his sordid past.
Forrest, who is banned from teaching and placed on the sexual register for life, worked as a chef while serving his sentence in Ashfield prison and reinvented himself as a baker after his release.
Now an accomplished senior baker he allegedly began an affair with his 27-year-old bakery assistant who he had been working alongside for several months.
Matters came to a head this week when managers at J Ayre bakery in Sidcup, Kent, held a meeting after rumours of the alleged affair began circulating among staff.
The business – established in 1949 by John Frederick Ayre who was known affectionately to his customers as ‘Fred the bread’ – is now run by Forrest’s cousins.
In a bid to resolve the issue, bosses proposed that the woman could move to a different part of the bakery where she would not be working directly alongside Forrest.
However the woman, who is not naming, decided she could no longer work there and quit her job.
Now Forrest – who was jailed for five-and-a-half years in 2013 for child abduction and having sex with the underage girl – is once again facing claims of inappropriate behaviour.
One friend of the bakery assistant told : ‘The management found out and have held a meeting about it this week.
‘They said she could carry on in the bakehouse, move to the shop to serve customers or leave.
‘The morning after the meeting she didn’t show up for work so she chose the latter. For her well-being she shouldn’t be forced to work with a predator but it’s sad that she was the one who had to go.’
The bakery confirmed to that a meeting into the relationship between Forrest and his assistant had taken place.
A spokesman for J Ayre said: ‘From what I know, Jeremy did meet with the member of staff after work but that was it. They built up a friendship.
‘I am not aware of anything physical between them but given nothing happened in the bakery itself it is a private matter for Jeremy and the other member of staff.
‘They are both grown adults. There was a meeting held this week to find a way of them both being able to work here together.
‘A number of proposals were made, including the other member of staff being moved to a different part of the bakery to Jeremy.
‘The outcome of that meeting is private.’
But the woman’s friend insisted she had suffered as a result of the relationship saying: ‘This is a clear example of grooming and predatory behaviour of a man who took advantage of a young and vulnerable woman.
‘She does not have a lot of experience working – in fact this is only her second job.
‘She joined at the end of last year but two months ago she got involved with Jeremy, who is a senior member of staff and really her boss.
‘This woman is quite naive and so quite vulnerable too and was led to believe by Jeremy that he was going to divorce his second wife.
‘He would sneak away with her from the bakery and have encounters in his car.
‘She cooled on him but Jeremy continued making all sorts of unwelcome advances towards her. She 100 per cent blames him.
‘Jeremy’s wife knows everything that happened. He was never getting divorced as he is happily married and is always sharing pictures of him and his wife, who is lovely. It’s typical scumbag behaviour.’
Forrest was dumped by his first wife when he was jailed in 2013 but has married for a second time.
He apparently told his female assistant that he was going to leave wife number two for her when they started their relationship two months ago.
Speaking at the couple’s home in Canterbury, Kent, his second wife, who is not naming, said: ‘I’m aware of this woman and what she is accusing Jeremy of but I have nothing more to say. I don’t want to make any further comment.’
Forrest gained notoriety in 2012 when as a 30-year-old teacher he fled the UK with the schoolgirl he is alleged to have groomed when she was just 14.
After taking her virginity one week after her 15th birthday in his marital home in Ringmer, East Sussex, the pair went on to have sex in his car and in hotels.
When the relationship was about to be exposed they left for France – using the names Jack Dean and Gemma Grant.
At first, the girl’s devastated family feared she had been kidnapped but soon after CCTV footage showed her with her arms around her teacher on board a ferry from Dover to Calais.
They were on the run for eight days before being found in Bordeaux where he was arrested in front of her.
Forrest was detained by undercover police after being tipped off by the landlady of a pub in the French city where he had sought work under his new identity.
Forrest, originally from Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, first became close with the girl during a school trip to America when she was aged 14.
Forrest was married to his first wife, Emily Lovell, at the time and told the schoolgirl that he would divorce her so they could be together.
The former teacher last saw the girl in June 2013 at Lewes Crown Court in East Sussex, where she was forced to give evidence about their relationship.
He did however reply to her on Facebook following his release, a move that risked him being recalled to prison.
The message was a breach of Forrest’s license as he was ordered not to have any contact with her.
In an interview in 2017 the girl, then aged 19, said: ‘We have only spoken once, after I messaged a Facebook account that came up as a suggested friend.
‘He sounded the same and, importantly, happy. He had a new girlfriend.’
She told how the relationship with the man she called ‘Sir’ began after they exchanged messages during the summer holidays and Forrest asked her if she wanted ‘to go for a drive’.
The girl said she did not regret the relationship but added: ‘I now recognise it for what it was: A dangerous infatuation. One that cost both of us dearly.’
Forrest, who is originally from Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, was released from prison in 2016 and went on to start a new life as a baker while also becoming the frontman in a rock band.
In 2023 photos emerged of the then heavily tattooed Forest when he worked as head baker at Gilda Bakery near Canterbury, Kent.
By then he had married for a second time and was living under the name Jeremy Buonocore.
A biography of Forrest on the artisan bakery’s website failed to mention his teaching career or time in prison but featured a picture of him in the kitchen and read: ‘He is proudly a 5th generation baker, learning everything he knows from the experienced bakers that have passed down their tried and tested methods.’
Gilda Bakery terminated his employment after becoming aware of his dark past, saying it had come as a shock to their ‘close-knit team’.
Gilda founder and director, Jon Warren, shared a statement on social media which read: ‘Since learning of the sensitive nature of this employee’s history, it was mutually agreed that it was in the best interest of Gilda that his employment was terminated with immediate effect.’
Forrest apparently referred to his illicit relationship in songs he wrote for his band.
In one he wrote: ‘Girl, I’d do it all again’ and ‘I was afraid someone would catch us’.