First pictures: These stills taken from CCTV camera footage filmed aboard a Dover to Calais ferry last Thursday show 30-year-old teacher Jeremy Forrest with his arm round runaway schoolgirl Megan Stammers in one picture and walking hand in hand with her in the other.
Hello Friends!
My Thoughts: I cannot wait for this selfish man to be caught and dealt with appropriately! My God! He is married! Megan was supposed to be his pupil and his responsibility...But not like this!
A married maths teacher and a schoolgirl half his age decided to flee Britain just after the police began investigating their illicit relationship, it was revealed today.
As the net closed in around Jeremy Forrest, 30, and his student Megan Stammers, 15, officers are understood to have grilled them on the eve of their disappearance last Thursday and even took away their phones in the hope they could stamp it out.
Sussex Police has told Mail Online: 'We were were told about it last week,' but the spokesman refused to say what they had done about it, adding the pair have still not been found more than five days after they disappeared.
It came as new photographs were released showing Forrest's arm wrapped possessively around Megan's shoulder and another where they are holding hands on the way to France aboard the cross-Channel ferry.
Distinctive: Forrest had this image of a young girl wearing a hat and walking a dog (left) tattooed on his arm earlier this year. He also has a floral display (right) on his other arm.
MailOnline asked a series of questions but Sussex Police said they would not comment on the ongoing hunt.
Do they know how much money Jeremy Forrest has with him and therefore how long they think he can last without using a credit or debit card?
Do they think they have they ditched their black Ford Fiesta?
How far into Europe could they have got in five days or are they probably still in France?
The police were told as Bishop Bell C of E school in Eastbourne, the school Forrest taught at and Megan attended, also investigated their relationship.
Huge questions have been raised about how they dealt with the warnings after the Mail revealed they were warned seven months ago that something inappropriate was going on between the pair.
Students had seen them holding hands on a school trip to Los Angeles.
Hunt: Teacher Jeremy Forrest and Megan were last seen on CCTV getting on a ferry to France.
Headteacher Terry Boatwright has revealed that the school, the council, Megan's parents and Sussex Police were working together when they went missing.
'The school, in conjunction with the local authority, Megan's parents, and the police had been addressing and investigating those concerns, in line with procedure, when this happened,' he said.
The authorities involved are remaining silent on what exactly they were doing about the relationship.The school, county council and police will not give details about their investigations, so it is not clear what action they were taking against Forrest or what Megan's parents were told before they went on the run.
It has also been revealed that a child protection expert wrote to Education Secretary Michael Gove expressing concerns about the school's protection policy.
Lucy Duckworth said they were 'extremely hostile' when she began asking questions about the issue but the school maintains it had a 'robust' safeguarding policy in place.
'The policy does not commit to informing parents or the local authority of any suspected or known abuse. If there was a robust policy in place, the parents would be informed,' she said.
'What we found was there was a whole section on safe recruiting but very little on how to effectively protect children. I’m convinced that, had that policy been in place, the parents would have been able to make a decision on their prolonged contact and Megan would be with us.'
In response head Terry Boatwright said: 'Bishop Bell School has a robust safeguarding policy in place, takes safeguarding very seriously and the effectiveness of its safeguarding procedures is rated Outstanding by OFSTED.'
In a worrying insight into what may have been going on between the pair for some time, Megan Stammers had written a 'bucket list' of wishes she wanted to do before she died.
In it she included 'fall in love' and 'have someone write a song about it' - both of which had been crossed off - hinting that she was already in a relationship with keen musician Jeremy Forrest
She also crossed out 'go to Hollywood' - probably linked to her school trip to Los Angeles seven months ago where they were spotted holding hands by other pupils.
Missing since Thursday: Schoolgirl Megan Stammers, 15, fled to France with her 30-year-old maths teacher.
Jeremy's father Jim Forrest has today defended his son, claiming he is a 'gentle and caring' man who he considers to be extremely vulnerable and could 'flip'.
Mr Forrest snr, who lives in Orpington Kent, admitted to the Daily Telegraph: 'I am worried about Jeremy; I am not worried about Megan. I can tell you my son is one of the most gentle, caring people you will ever meet. I worry for him more than Megan in case he flips.'
Incredibly it was revealed yesterday that another teacher at Bishop Bell C of E School in Eastbourne was jailed three years ago for assaulting teenage girls after grooming them on a social networking site.
Robert Healy, a supply teacher at the school, was jailed in 2009 for preying with two girls aged 15 and 16 after grooming them on a social networking site. In a striking similarity to the Megan Stammers case, other pupils knew what was going on before he was caught.
Bucket List: Megan wrote a wish list of the things she wanted to do before she died - some of which were probably linked to Forrest and crossed off - including 'fall in love'.
Parents are now calling for a full inquiry as they say some of their children are too frightened to attend.
'HE SEEMED LIKE A NICE BLOKE': MEGAN'S FATHER KNEW FORREST
The step-father of Megan Stammers had worked with the teacher she fled to France with in 2010, it has been revealed.
Martin Stammers, right, said today that he thought that Jeremy Forrest 'seemed a nice bloke'.
The teenager's mother and stepfather have said they were unaware of any relationship, and Sussex Police was only made aware of it last week.
Megan's family has said she had been receiving extra-curricular maths lessons since before the summer, but they did not suspect any relationship between her and Forrest.
Mr Stammers, 43, told The Sun that he worked with Forrest two years ago at The Causeway School in Eastbourne, where he teaches.
'I knew Forrest as a colleague. He worked at a twin school.
'He did some work for us about two years ago. He seemed a nice enough fellow - there was nothing out of the ordinary about him.
'But this is all about Megan and getting her back - then the police can deal with him.'
The married maths teacher and his teenage pupil were caught on CCTV and more than five days after the vanished French police admitted they could now be ‘anywhere in Europe’.
In other dramatic developments:
■ It emerged that Megan posted a message on Twitter in July saying: ‘I just want to runaway forever’, to which the teacher replied: ‘Me & you. :-) Let’s just run away’;
■ The new wife of Megan’s stepfather, the man who raised her, said she was ‘sick to the stomach’ over revelations that Forrest was allowed to stay at the school for seven months after warnings that he was in a relationship with the teenager;
■ Furious parents at Bishop Bell C of E School in Eastbourne, Sussex, demanded a full inquiry into the apparent lapse in child protection and accused senior staff at the school of letting pupils down;
■ It was revealed that another teacher at the school was jailed three years ago for grooming and sleeping with two girls, aged 15 and 16. The former chairman of governors is also due to stand trial on multiple accusations of child sex offences;
■ Forrest’s former school, Bishop Justus in Bromley, Kent, could now be forced to investigate his time there.
Megan’s distraught mother Danielle Wilson and stepfather Martin Stammers have said they are in a ‘living hell’. The teenager left her home in Eastbourne last Thursday afternoon after telling her mother she was going to stay overnight at a friend’s house.
Her school raised the alarm after she and Forrest failed to turn up the next day and CCTV later caught the teacher’s black Ford Fiesta heading to Dover with Megan in the passenger seat.
The images of the couple on the ferry – Forrest in jeans and tracksuit top, Megan in short black skirt – were made public in the hope of encouraging witnesses to come forward with information about their possible whereabouts.
But there has not been a single sighting of the pair anywhere in France and no trace of them using their mobile phones or accessing cash machines, according to the French authorities.
Sighting: Sussex Police issued this picture of the Ford Fiesta driven by Jeremy Forrest to Dover, with Megan Stammers also inside.
Culled from The Daily Mail UK.
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Simply Cheska...
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