Teacher convicted of rape after texting 'confession' to victim

A schoolteacher has been convicted of rape after texting his victim a "confession", claiming he took advantage because of "sexual frustration".

History teacher Michael Leydon, 61, raped the victim in 2014 while still working in a school part-time.

The married father-of-three denied rape, but police discovered a series of text messages he sent to the victim which amounted to "a confession".

One read: "You said last night that I should have stopped on the night I took advantage of you against your will – believe me I wish I had.

"If I had known what I was doing I would have. I cannot change what happened or how you must have felt but I will do anything to try to make amends."

A later message said: "I did something disgusting as a result of drink, tablets and stress." Another said: "What I did to you was my fault, albeit I did it on a cocktail of alcohol, sexual frustration and depression."

James Dunstan, prosecuting, said: "In a sense, the text messages are a black and white record of what was said and how it was said. They contain a confession."

A jury at Worcester Crown Court took 11 hours and eight minutes to find Leydon guilty of rape by a majority verdict of 11-1 following a trial. As the verdict was read out on Wednesday, his wife, watching from the public gallery, screamed and left the court.

Leydon was cleared of a second charge of rape dating back to the 1980s.

The trial heard that he was a teacher at Nunnery Wood High School between 1983 and 1989 but had also taught at schools in Redditch and Hereford and was a school governor.

Leydon claimed sex was consensual and his barrister, Robert Tolhurst, had suggested to the victim she was "confused" because of flashbacks to when she was sexually abused as a child.

Leydon, of Diglis, Worcester, was bailed but warned that he faced prison when he returned to court next month for sentencing. Judge James Burbidge QC told him: "A sentence of imprisonment is inevitable for rape."