That’s funny mark! Worthy of Broadsheet.

Hs ha very good Mark. This guy knew her age and shouldn’t have gone away with her, he is also married, but I have to say she looks 18 or more…I have a 22 year old daughter that looks younger than that.

That should be in comments of the week but unfortunately won’t.

8?

Joan, any pics?

hahaha Creamy Hamstrings you creep!

The name suits you!

Excellent you are on the ball with that one

Brilliant! Worthy of comment of the week.

Those Maths grinds are going to cost a fortune….

Yep. Just ruined his life

Creamy, you interested, she’s lovely, looks like her Ma!

Now ye’re talkin!

Yeah, I think you are spot on. Doesn’t matter how old she looks. It’s sick.

Should she also be allowed to vote, drink or drive just because she looks over 18?

You feel bad for a man who convinced a child to leave her parents and run away with him to another country? Really?

Yes, because that’s definitely what happened. Must be nice seeing the world in black and white! At least you don’t have to deal with 50 Shades of Gray…

Yes, that is exactly what happened.
According to her school friends, her school and the police, they were in a relationship.
So an adult man, who had a duty of care for this CHILD, abused his position to have a relationship with her.
If people like you think that’s okay and he is a victim, I just hope you never have children. Sod off with your shades of grey. When it comes to child protection there are no shades.

We don’t know for sure that’s what happened Maninthestreet.
When I was in secondary school one of my friends, a quite quiet girl – much as Megan has been described by her peers, was having an affair with the tutor of a class she was taking outside of school.

She initiated it, she had a major crush, and he really should have known better. But they carried on in secret for over a year, until she was old enough to realise that it would never go anywhere because it would damage his reputation and as such, really she was just allowing herself to be used.

It’s not always so black and white.

Yes it is black and white. She is a child. We’re do you draw the line? Would you feel the same if she was 13? Or 11?
What the hell is wrong with you people.
Easy to see why Ireland has such a shameful history on child protection with attitudes like these.

I had a cousin who was 15 when she met her fella he was 32, they married when she was 16 (wth parents consent) that was 22 years ago, they are still together.

However i find the age gap a bit creepy myself, he was married and in a position of trust, it was never going to end well.

Funny how people feel bad for a Teacher who runs away with an underage girl… who might look older than she is, but her teacher would definitely know she was a minor, so that excuse doesn’t wash.

If he were a priest, people would be baying for blood.

Hey – I’m not advocating it, I never really approved of their “relationship” and she knew it. But it is possible for a teenage girl to develop a crush on an older guy – it doesn’t necessarily mean that he put her under a spell, it’s possible for it to be mutual was the point I was making.

Regardless, as a teacher who knew full well what age the girl was he had no business running away with her. And I agree as a minor the charge of abduction stands.

I agree that people should wait till the full story comes up. Perception is a powerful thing. I think the lads in Southpark summed it up perfectly
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155304/nice

Oh Great, so The Journal removes the comment that my comment was in response to and makes me look like like I’m laughing at the actual case!

Well done!

How could you, reds?
Shame on you.

It’s ok to joke once they’re ok, isn’t that right Gagsy…

they’ve gone fierce bad for removing jokey comments.

Damn right, reds. And even sometimes when they’re not.

Amelie all I can say about your speech is you are mad if that is what you believe what about responsibility and common decency he knew she was a child he was supposed to be the adult

Amelia,
Rose tinted glasses maybe? If it was your 15 year old daughter would you say the same?

Because she is a minor.
If a four year old consented would that make it okay also?

She’s hardly four. Fifteen going on 27 if you ask me. I’d believe her if she told me she was 18!

I didn’t say she was four. I said she was a minor. Same thing. He was her teacher and knew what age she was.
I can’t believe anybody would even try defend him.

So let me get this straight.. You look at her photo, decide she looks older than her age and so she can consent to running off with an adult man in a position of authority over her? Ugh, this is the kind of thinking which excuses sexual exploitation of teenage girls.

A chid with a childish mind a man with an adult mind do the math

Nick: I’m on a phone so I haven’t even seen her photo yet. I’m not defending this guy or trying to defend his actions, and I’m certainly not trying to accuse the girl of luring him in. I’m just looking at the situation and saying that since none of us know the full circumstances its foolish to make statements of fact based on individual’s emotions. He’s he guilty party, end of story, but I’d be surprised if this girl was totally innocent of any wrongdoing (but now I’m theorising in the same manner I’ve been criticising others of, so I’ll stop).

Eh Nick, unfortunately this fellow has an ideal defense. The age of consent in France is 15, and she’s well above the age of criminal responsibility. If there’s proof that she in any way consented to travelling around with him then that throws reasonable doubt all over the case. The guy is clearly a sexual predator by all conventional definitions, but unless he engaged in sexual relations with her in the United Kingdom (where the age of consent is 16), well this is a pain in the neck to prosecute.

More reason to harmonise child protection laws across the EU.

She’s a minor. He could get up to ten years

Speaking as a former 15 year old girl, I had some really stupid ideas at that age (although I would never have had the energy/money to actually try running away with my boyfriend), but the difference is that he’s the one who should know better. At 25 now, I would know that running away with a 15 year old, leaving the parents frantic and desperate and while I was still married, is just a bad idea. And that’s the difference: he’s the one who’s supposed to know better, if that makes sense?

There are people on here saying “maybe they were just so in love.” And maybe they were, but even so, they went about handling it in such a spectacularly immature fashion rather than waiting until she got older and was no longer a student. I think it’s legitimate to say a 30 year old should have a bit more cop on, to be honest!

So what age do you draw the line?

Look, if he really loved her, the appropriate thing would have been to wait until he was no longer a teacher, she became a bit older and he’d actually left his wife.

Deciding to run away and leaving her parents worried REALLY isn’t a decent basis for a relationship.

eggfuel your a clown, he,s the adult and should now better.Do you think its ok for men of his age and position preying on kids? Because face it thats what she is and prob had a crush on him, love my arse !

what age are you liam 12 ? stupid comment !

I would agree with you on that. 15 year olds aren’t as innocent as they used to be. In saying that this is still a stupid situation which could have been avoided with a bit of common sense on both parts.

Thank you! That’s all I meant!!!! If you happen to drive by the Wes of a Friday night you can see it in full swing.

That said, he should have known better!