A TEACHER from Petts Wood who fled to France with a teenage pupil has been found guilty of child abduction.

Jeremy Forrest, aged 30, of Chislehurst Road, who previously taught at Bishop Justus School, Magpie Hall Lane, Bromley Common, was arrested in Bordeaux on September 28 last year.

He will be sentenced at 3pm today (June 20).

Forrest, at the time a teacher at Bishop Bell C of E School in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was extradited to Britain where he was charged with abducting a child by Sussex Police on October 10.

During a two-week trial Lewes Crown Court heard how Forrest, who is married, fled with the 15-year-old girl the day after police questioned her about their sexual relationship.

Fearing they were about to be exposed, he booked them on a cross-Channel ferry to Calais before spending seven days on the run.

He was finally arrested following the issuing of a European arrest warrant.