A SCHOOLGIRL allegedly abducted to France by her married maths teacher has told a court he came with her because he feared she might commit suicide.

The girl was aged 15 when she started a sexual relationship with Jeremy Forrest, 30, after developing a crush on him at her school.

Fearing they were about to be exposed, Forrest, of Chislehurst Road, Petts Wood, booked them on a cross-Channel ferry from Dover to Calais on September 20 last year before spending seven days on the run in France.

The girl, now aged 16, said that she had been experiencing personal problems in the months up to the relationship with Forrest.

The court heard the pair agreed to go to France after the girl had her phone seized by police investigating rumours of a relationship between them.

The girl said she planned to run away but Forrest agreed to come with her to prevent her from getting into danger.

She said: "He tried to persuade me not to run away.

"I said I was going and nobody was going to stop me.

"I was very determined and once I had an idea in my head nobody was going to stop me, not Jeremy, not anybody.

"He was concerned that if I went on my own I would be in danger, it would be a better idea if he came with me.

"I was very pleased.

"If Jeremy had said he wasn't coming with me, I would have dreaded what kind of situation I would have been in."

Describing her mood at the time, she said: "I felt very low indeed, I didn't know what to do, I was very desperate."

When asked if she felt suicidal by defence counsel Ronald Jaffa, the girl, who chose today to give her evidence in court for the first time rather than by videolink, said: "Yes".

The trial of Forrest, who taught at Bishop Bell C of E School in Eastbourne, continues.