Credit: This story was first seen on The Daily Mail
A married boarding school teacher groomed one of his students and had sex with her on his wife’s wedding dress, a court heard, The Daily Mail reports.
Music teacher Simon Ball, 42, would also ‘sneak’ into one of his victim’s homes at night and had sex with her while her parents slept in the same house, it was alleged.
Prosecutors said Ball had sex with two of his ‘talented’ students at the same time and took one of them to get the morning after pill after a condom had split.
The allegations that Ball abused three schoolgirls aged between 13 and 16 were made during the opening of his trial at Peterborough Crown Court.
Ball, 42, denies four counts of indecent assault against former students and five counts of engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust between 2001 and 2004.
The court was told that Ball worked at a private school in Yorkshire from 1999 to 2004 as a music teacher.
The jury was told how Ball pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual activity by person in a position of trust in May this year at a different school.
He had received an oral warning in 2001 for ‘inappropriate behaviour’ and left the school to work at another while an investigation was taking place into allegations made against him.
The prosecution said one of the students in question was in love with Ball and didn’t want to see him get in trouble for his alleged actions of ‘serious abuse’.
“Following that incident she then describes how there were then many more sexual encounters between her and the defendant.”
He continued: “He would come to her house and have sex with her in her bedroom, sometimes the parents were out, but sometimes the parents would be at home asleep. On occasions he would sneak into the house and they would have sex in her bedroom.”
The court was told how Ball also had sex with the victim in a chapel and at his own home on his wife’s wedding dress.
Mr Perrins told the court how Ball and his wife, Hannah Atherton, are no longer together and she will be giving evidence in her ex-husband’s trial.
He said: “At the time you’re going to hear that she [victim] thought she was in love with him. It’s not said that he used force against her but he took advantage of the feelings she had for him and groomed her over a period of time.”
Mr Perrins continued: “They also had sex at his house on one occasion, having sex on the top of his wife’s wedding dress. Something that he suggested they should do.”
Addressing the jury, Mr Perrins said: “The prosecution case is that the abuse in question ranged from sexual touching to full on penetrative sex over a number of different occasions. Some of the allegations were made back in 2004. Although there was an investigation at the time, no charges were brought. In 2004 while investigations were still ongoing he accepted another teaching job as director of music. You will hear that in 2004, part way through the investigation he then moved schools. In 2015 he was suspended following allegations made from another student.”
He is charged with two counts of indecently assaulting two school girls while they were on a school coach trip.
The court also heard how Ball sat at the back of the coach with two victims and inappropriately touched them under a blanket while it was dark and they were watching a DVD.
The one victim was left ‘extremely upset’ and said the defendant in her words had ‘felt her up’.
The same victim in the following years then engaged in sexual intercourse with the defendant and thought she was in a relationship with him, the prosecution claimed.
Mr Perrins said: “He was regarded by the deputy head as a confident man and a man who got on with the students in the school as well as the teachers.”
He added: “It will become clear to you during the course of this trial the way in which the school handled the complaints made by the girls at the time was seriously lacking.”
The trial continues.