Judge: Girl groomed teacher into having sex

The schoolgirl accused by a judge of “grooming” a religious studies teacher into having sex has said she regrets the trial more than the affair.

Stuart Kerner, 44, from Aylesford, Kent, was handed a suspended 18-month term by Judge Joanna Greenberg, sitting at Inner London Crown Court, who said it was clear his victim, 16, was “obsessed” with him.

But the teenager told The Sun the judge’s comments were like being “kicked in the stomach” and insisted he had pursued her.

She said: “How did I seduce him? I didn’t pounce on him. He was the teacher. He groomed me. He arranged the time and places that we would meet.”

The girl admitted she “fancied” the teacher and told him she wanted to have sex, while she was also reluctant to see him charged for the offences. But she said she was hurt when he denied the affair because she thought of him as her “first boyfriend”.

Kerner was found guilty in December of two counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.

But he walked free from court after the judge said: “[The victim] pursued you. Her friends described her, accurately in my view, as stalking you... If grooming is the right word to use, it was she who groomed you, [and] you gave in to temptation.”