Paedophile teacher Jeremy Forrest, jailed in 2013 after running away to France with a 15-year-old schoolgirl, has revealed his plans to be taken off the sex offenders’ register.
The former maths teacher, 42, who sparked an international manhunt in 2012 after he went on the run with a teenage pupil, was banned from teaching and placed on the sexual offenders’ register for life.
Jailed for five-and-a-half years for child abduction and having sex with an underage girl, following his release from prison he retrained as a baker and married for a second time.
Now, the disgraced paedophile, originally from Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, has shamelessly spoken of his desire to be removed from the offenders register, remarking that it has ‘always been the plan’ for him to be eventually taken off.
Speaking of how he misses teaching in Eastbourne, East Sussex, but ‘loves’ his new life in Sidcup, Kent, Forrest told The Mirror: ‘It’s up to other people, we need to see what happens.
‘The plan has always been that (to be taken off it) with my liaison officer. That’s always been the plan’.
After 15 years, adults on the register for life can apply to the police for a review of their case, meaning that Forrest could submit such request as soon as 2028.
If such application were to be successful, it would mean that Forrest would no longer be subject to a number of notification requirements, including reporting to the police, providing information about his place of residence or travel planes, or informing the force about whether he is residing in a household with a child.
But Forrest insists that such removal would be justified, insisting that he has ‘changed my life’ and is no longer representative of his ‘past mistakes’.
He added: ‘I’ve not been in any other trouble. You always have to be mindful of past mistakes. That’s what it was. I’m always mindful of it’.
Adding that he was ‘very sorry’ for his previous crime, he said that he ‘regrets it all’.
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.
The paedophile teacher first became close with the young girl during a school trip to America when she was aged 14.
He 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.’
Sex offenders in the UK can apply to be removed from the Sex Offenders register after 15 years (if an adult at the time of the conviction) or eight years (if a juvenile).
The application must demonstrate that the individual no longer poses a risk of sexual harm to the public.
Applications to be removed must first be made to the police. If these are refused, you can then appeal to a magistrates’ court.
Police decisions are based upon a number of different factors that include the risk of sexual harm posed by the offender, the seriousness of the initial offence and the period of time it has been since the offender committed the offence / offences.
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 was dumped by his first wife when he was jailed in 2013.
Having been released from prison in 2015, Forrest married for a second time and went on to start a new life as a baker at Gilda Bakery near Canterbury, Kent. Living under the name Jeremy Buonocore, he also became the frontman in a rock band.
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’.
In March, revealed how Forrest had allegedly cheated on his second wife with a work colleague 15 years his junior who had ended up being forced out of her job as a result of their relationship.
Now an accomplished senior baker, the disgraced paedophile 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.
While bosses proposed that the woman could be relocated to a different part of the bakery to help resolve the issue, the woman decided that she could n longer work there and quit her job.
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’.