College tutor who had sex with student told her 'age doesn't matter'

A MARRIED college tutor from Nottingham groomed a vulnerable girl he was teaching before starting a sexual relationship with her.

- By MARTIN NAYLOR [e-mail]

Nottingham Crown Court heard how father-of-two Stephen Gill taught at both New College and Nottingham Trent University.

When he was teaching at the university, he took the girl into a booth where they were caught by another staff member, who raised their suspicions and Gill lost his job.

Years later, the victim disclosed to the authorities what had happened.

Jailing him for a year, Judge Michael Auty KC said: "You are a 57-year-old man with a hitherto good character and you threw that good character away, no one else did.

"I have every sympathy for your poor wife and children. Ordinarily, I am someone that does whatever he can to take a merciful course but we need to start by looking at what actually took place.

"She was 17, you were in your 40s, there was a massive age difference between the two of you. She was a child, you were an adult.

"You knew what you were doing, you knew it was wrong and you continued to do it."