POLICE halted their inquiries into claims of a relationship between a teacher and a 15-year-old pupil just hours before they fled to France, a court heard.

Officers seized the schoolgirl’s mobile phone five days after receiving a tip-off that married Jeremy Forrest, of Chislehurst Road, Petts Wood, had sent intimate pictures to it.

The phone was seized after the pair had started meeting for sex, the court was told, and following rumours at their school, Bishop Bell CE in Eastbourne, of a relationship between them.

Lewes Crown Court was told on Friday (June 15) how after the mobile phone was confiscated for analysis by police, the girl “panicked” that the authorities and her mother would find out.

Jurors were told the day after the girl's phone was taken away, an officer spoke to a teacher at the school on September 20 saying there was “no evidence” on it.

Alicja Bobela, the assistant head with responsibilities for child protection matters, said: “They said that there was no evidence on the girl’s phone, so they were not going to seize Jeremy’s phone.

“So we were left with the idea that we had to followup the investigation. We didn’t know where to begin.”

The court has heard that later that same day Forrest booked cross-Channel ferry tickets for him and the girl under his and his wife’s names before driving to Dover.

Fearing their relationship was about to be exposed, the pair boarded the Spirit of France hand-in-hand at 9.20pm before arriving in Calais in the middle of the night.

Jurors heard their disappearance came seven months after Forrest was warned by colleagues to keep his distance from the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The alert was made after some students claimed Forrest had shown favouritism to the girl during a half-term school trip in February last year, the jury was told.

Teacher Emma Tremaman, who organised the trip, said the girl had avoided sanction for alleged misbehaviour after Forrest intervened, saying she had not been involved.

She said: “There were a group of girls that were complaining about (the girl) being let off and this is when some of the students claimed that she was always being let off and that she had a crush on Jeremy.”

Forrest denies child abduction.

The case was adjourned to 11am today when the girl is expected to give evidence.