Wife uncovered teacher's affair with pupil he texted 200 times

Julian Cawston, 43, became friendly with the girl while helping her prepare for mock GCSE exams.

But their relationship soon became sexual, with trysts in his car and at his home. Six weeks on, they had full sex.

The balding maths teacher was arrested after his wife found a phone bill which showed he had texted the girl around 200 times in a month.

Another family member then contacted the school, which in turn alerted the police.

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Cawston's career is in tatters after he admitted two counts of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and four charges of abusing a position of trust.

He faces up to five years in jail after magistrates in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, bailed him for sentencing at Ipswich Crown Court.

Magistrates' chairman Carolyn Heyward told him: "It is likely the punishment will be greater than can be imposed in this court."

Magistrates can impose up to six months in jail for each charge or up to a maximum of one year for consecutive terms.

Cawston became close to the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, while helping her prepare for exams in January this year.

Rachel Mahoney, prosecuting, said: "Mr Cawston offered to give her lifts home with her parents' agreement."

He later began giving the girl private tuition at his house, which his wife left last year when they separated barely a year after marrying.

It was on May 8 this year that the relationship became sexual.

The couple engaged in sex acts in Cawston's Vauxhall Astra around the villages of Lavenham and Alpheton, and at his home in Sudbury.

They had full sex on June 20 and were last together the following day. Cawston was charged on July 17 following an investigation by Suffolk police.

He is understood to have been suspended from his job and subsequently resigned.

His last entry on the Friends Reunited website, dated 2005, says: "Teaching secondary mathematics for a living (who'd have thought it eh!)

"Enjoying it very much - but also realising the hell I put my teachers through at school. Oh well, what goes around comes around."

The disgraced teacher, a keen mountain walker who has moved to Presteigne, Powys, mid-Wales, was also placed on the sex offenders register after Monday's court hearing.

Hugh Rowling, defending, said Cawston had an "exemplary" teaching record and claimed he had not deliberately targeted the girl.

"The relationship developed slowly over a period of time and was entirely consensual," he said.

"Neither of them felt or knew they were doing anything wrong."

A county council spokesman said: "We can confirm that the individual involved is no longer working at the school.

"We will refer the case to the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which will decide whether he should be placed on the list barring individuals from working with children and young people in the future."