SEEING new photos of paedophile teacher Jeremy Forrest kissing a woman 15 years his junior outside a bakery last week, Hayley McGregor recoiled.
His face takes her straight back to her childhood when, aged just 12, she was subjected to three years of shocking abuse by a man just like him.
Hand-holding and secret kisses in her drama teacher Andrew Willson’s car led to Hayley losing her virginity in his home – and she spent the best part of the last decade trying to put her traumatic past behind her after he was jailed for 20 months.
But now, laying eyes on Forrest with a younger woman, Hayley’s anger is back with a vengeance.
The 42-year-old former maths tutor triggered an international manhunt after disappearing to France with a 15-year-old pupil from Eastbourne, Sussex back in 2012 when he was aged 30.
It was his case which made Hayley realise the relationship she had with her depraved drama teacher had been abusive – eventually securing his conviction.
Speaking for the first time after Forrest was spotted with his new girlfriend, 27 – who he’s said to have met while working at his cousin’s bakery – Hayley, now 44, from Stalybridge, Mancs, says, “I am really angry.
“My first reaction when I read about the situation was just pure anger, and I felt sick to my stomach.
“People like Forrest have a typical MO, and they are attracted to younger girls. This woman was his junior, there’s a large age gap – a huge power dynamic that he has control over.”
Dark past
In June 2013, Forrest was sentenced to five and a half years in jail at Lewes Crown Court and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life after being found guilty of abducting and having sex with the 15-year-old pupil.
Forrest, who was married at the time but then ditched by his wife Emily, was found with the student in Bordeaux, France.
He then went on to marry his second wife, and they’d been living together in Canterbury when he fell for his new flame – he has now left the marital home.
A huge manhunt was sparked when the teacher fled the country with a pupil[/caption]
The Sun revealed images of the pair locked in a loving embrace on the street, but the woman is said to have had no idea about his dark past.
Despite completing his jail term, Hayley wants to warn people that those who groom once are likely to do it again and government statistics reveal that 13.1% of sex offenders go on to re-offend.
“Even though Forrest is on the sex offender’s register for life, he’s been allowed to completely reinvent himself,” she says.
“There’s something inherently wrong with him.”
Tip of the iceberg
Forrest’s offending in 2012 became the catalyst that led to Hayley speaking out about her own traumatic experience as a young girl at the hands of her teacher.
In February 2016, Willson, then 48, was jailed for 20 months after admitting five indecent assaults he committed at Fearns High School in Bacup, Lancs, and was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for ten years.
But Hayley, who has bravely waived her right to anonymity, says the indecent assault charges are the tip of the iceberg.
He dropped me off after one rehearsal and he parked a little bit away from my house which I remember thinking was weird. He touched my leg and he leaned in to kiss me.
Hayley McGregor
She says: “Those charges are the result of years of grooming work, years of being told to keep quiet and years of being manipulated.
“They really don’t tell the whole story.”
Hayley was in Year 8 when Willson started at her school in the 1990s and she immediately developed a crush on this new, ‘trendy’ young teacher.
Hayley was groomed from the age of 12 and what started as the odd compliment here and there ended up with her losing her virginity to the teacher[/caption]
Drama teacher Andrew Willson was jailed for 20 months after admitting five indecent assaults[/caption]
Hayley has been able to slowly heal with the help of her partner Leroy, who she’s been with for 11 years[/caption]
“We were all outside the arts theatre and all the girls were giggly about him, and I was giggly about him,” she recalls.
“Teenagers aren’t subtle – he knew I had a crush on him. Loads of girls did.”
‘I knew not to tell anyone’
Over three years, Willson would brush Hayley’s leg in his office at school or sit near her on school trips. He told her that she had ‘beautiful eyes’ and a ‘beautiful smile’.
He would often drive Hayley home from drama rehearsals and after kissing her first in school, he did it again in his car.
“I was 13 and I’d been cast as the lead in the Blood Brothers production,” she recalls.
“He dropped me off after one rehearsal and he parked a little bit away from my house which I remember thinking was weird. He touched my leg and he leaned in to kiss me.
“I already knew not to tell anyone. I went in and my mum asked how rehearsals were and I just went straight up to my room.”
We kissed in his newborn son’s room.
Hayley McGregor
Willson was audacious in his abuse and even took Hayley up to his marital bedroom at one point and placed a photograph of his wife face down.
Hayley explains: “He lived in Rochdale at the time and I used to dance in Rochdale and he must have picked me up on one occasion and he took me back to his house.
“He took me up to his bedroom where we kissed and he put a picture of his wife face down while we were there – he told me this could all be mine one day.”
Hayley doesn’t know why Willson made a beeline for her, but says he even became a friend of the family.
She explains: “He would sing my praises at parents’ evenings and he supported Leeds United like my dad so they began to bond over that.
“He became a trusted family friend.”
Chilling abuse
When Hayley was 15, Willson left the area and moved with his family to Northampton, but the abuse continued.
He invited the family to stay at his home to watch a football match, and managed to get Hayley alone. The pair had sex which was later described at Burnley Crown Court as being ‘consensual’.
Hayley recalls: “The match was on a Sunday and we stayed at his house that night. His wife had gone to work early the next morning and my parents were still upstairs asleep.
“He came down as I slept on a sofa bed in his child’s playroom, wearing my Leeds United pyjamas, and he took my virginity.
“He had always told me he would wait until I was 16 for us to have sex but I was 15 at the time.
“Twenty minutes later he was cooking breakfast for my family as if nothing had happened.”
Willson made a surprise appearance at Hayley’s 21st birthday and her dad’s 50th, but when she reached her 20s, she began questioning herself.
She grappled with her feelings over the following years, and says: “I just thought, ‘why is this guy still in my life?’ But I still held a bit of a torch for him.
“He was my first love, first relationship, first sexual experience.”
Hayley continued to keep Willson’s sordid ways secret until she read about Jeremy Forrest.
To those who have experienced something similar to what I have, tell someone… Even if you can’t report it, tell whoever you can.
Hayley McGregor
She was in her early 30s by then, at the time a self-employed actress who had moved from job-to-job and from one relationship to another if things ever felt tough.
“I remember the original Forrest story so well because I had such a physical and mental reaction to it,” Hayley says.
“Seeing what Forrest was doing, his body language around this pupil, was like a mirror being held up, showing me all the things that had happened to me.
“As an adult, I condemned what Forrest had done but then was still justifying what had happened to me. It really started to have an impact on my health.
“I began drinking a lot, my work began to suffer and my body started physically reacting to all the stress.”
Beginning to heal
In 2014 and in turmoil, Hayley saw a counsellor and told them about Willson.
Hayley then told her parents, her partner, turned fiancée, Leroy Liburd, 54, and the police.
“Admitting that was the start of everything that has happened since,” she says.
“I feel so lucky that I was believed and supported. It wasn’t easy.
“My parents and I have had to do a lot of healing together. We’ve all had to work very hard to get the relationship that we’ve got now.”
Hayley has been with Leroy for 11 years and engaged for three but she admits she still finds things tough.
She’s currently out of work because of her mental health and is still trying to tell herself that Willson is wholly responsible for her struggles.
What is grooming and where to get help?
What is grooming?
According to the Metropolitan Police, “Grooming is when a person builds a relationship with a child, young person or an adult who’s at risk so they can abuse them and manipulate them into doing things.
“The abuse is usually sexual or financial, but it can also include other illegal acts.”
Types of grooming
Grooming can take place online or in person and it can happen over a short or long period of time – from days to years.
- Online and through social media
- In person
Signs of grooming
- Are they being secretive about how they’re spending their time?
- Do they have an older boyfriend or girlfriend?
- Do they have money or new things like clothes and mobile phones that they can’t or won’t explain?
- Are they drinking or taking drugs?
- Are they spending more or less time than usual online or on their devices?
- Do they seem upset or withdrawn?
- Are they using sexual language you wouldn’t expect them to know?
- Are they spending more time away from home or going missing for periods of time?
A person won’t know they’re being groomed, they will trust their abuser who is giving them lots of attention and gifts. Also, their groomer may have warned them not to talk to anyone about it.
How to get help and support
Grooming is an offence. If you suspect a person is being groomed, even if you’re not sure, please tell someone.
Is someone about to be attacked or hurt? Is a crime taking place right now? If yes, call 999 and ask for the police.
If it isn’t an emergency you can report grooming to the police on 101.
Charities and agencies:
Hayley also urges other women to speak out.
“I’m still doing a lot of healing and working on trying to believe that it wasn’t my fault,” she adds.
“To those who have experienced something similar to what I have, tell someone.
“I felt like I was drowning and the internal pain of keeping that secret will eat you alive.
“Even if you can’t report it, tell whoever you can.
“You have a voice and your voice is important – it wasn’t your fault.”
Hayley’s book, Teacher’s Pet, is available now.
