Girl admits she loved her sex education teacher
A sex education teacher at a Catholic girls’ school sent a teenage pupil a Jesus and Mary Chain song about ‘cherry popping’ before he assaulted her, a court heard.
Philip McDermott, 59, is accused of attacking the girl, then 15, at a Bryan Adams concert and in the classroom.
McDermott had exchanged emails about Bryan Adams songs earlier, and McDermott sent the student messages about the Jesus and Mary Chain album ‘Darklands’, Isleworth Crown Court heard.
The teacher met his student in his classroom after classes had finished for the day and repeatedly assaulted her, the court heard.
McDermott also showed her pornography on his phone in the classroom, it is claimed.
The alleged victim has described the multiple sexual assaults both in the classroom and outside the school.
They even staged the suggestive picture on the cover of a Bryan Adams album in class, it is claimed.
She told jurors: ‘He did kiss me, it was my first kiss, and it was disgusting, and that happened in front of the whiteboard.’
She said another staff member walked in on her and McDermott on one occasion.
‘I was crying, and I pretended I was crying because of a maths test that had gone wrong.
‘At the time, I really enjoyed school, and I worked really hard and had good relationships with all the teachers which is why it was not flagged up that me and Philip’s relationship was strange.
‘He sent me a Jesus and the Mary Chain song, it was a song from an album called Darklands, and it was an extremely sexual song. There is something about cherry popping in it.
‘I didn’t have a good relationship with my dad, and then Philip took advantage of that.
‘I had a very persistent memory of feeling like I was not going to be loved, and Philip took advantage of that.
‘I would describe it as I had been feeling that he made me feel special and feel loved and everything.
‘I would say the case is that Philip saw I was extremely vulnerable and then groomed me.
‘Throughout all of those conversations, Bryan Adams and everything, I had feelings for him, and then he sexually assaulted me on multiple occasions.’
The woman told the court McDermott had lunch with her at the King’s Arms pub in 2016, then walked out into Hampton’s Bushy Park holding hands.
He then sexually assaulted her and exposed himself to her, the court heard.
She said: ‘I’m completely traumatised by my experience,
‘We walked out of the King’s Arms, and Philip and I were holding hands, and it was really scary because we could be caught, and we did bump into someone,
‘I saw I didn’t want to hold hands, and he said no, don’t worry.’
She then described McDermott’s alleged sexual assault.
She said: ‘I really cared about Philip, I loved him, and being 15 years old, and starting to understand my sexuality, I was being taken advantage of by my teacher.
Stopping to cry, she said: ‘My sexual relationships after just completely…
‘He took me into the park and he touched me and he pulled my pants down, and he…
‘It’s meant I can’t have…
‘I loved him, which is a bit embarrassing.’
She told the court she believed afterwards McDermott could have impregnated her, although the teacher never penetrated her.
She said: ‘When you’re a child who has never had sex, any sexual activity is terrifying.
‘Philip was my teacher, he taught me Sex Ed. He told me “You might be pregnant, you should go and get the morning after pill”, and that is not something you say to a 15 year old child.
‘To this day, I have been in a relationship with my boyfriend for years, and we have not been able to have penetrative sex because I’m scared of his genitals.’
McDermott, dressed in a dark grey suit and a red tie, showed no emotion as he heard her speak.
The girl wore scarlet nail varnish and put her hands on McDermott’s face as a tribute to the suggestive picture on the front of the ‘Get Up’ record.
The incidents happened in 2016 but the alleged victim said she only reported McDermott years later because she was in ‘big, black pits of shame’ and thought it was her fault.
McDermott, of Westwood Hill, Crystal Palace, denies six counts of sexual activity with a child, two counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, one count of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one count of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust, between 2013 and 2017.
The trial continues.
