PE teacher had sex with two pupils after buying them cuddly toys and McDonald’s meals

A sex predator teacher faces jail for grooming two teenage pupils with flirty Twitter messages and trips to McDonald’s.

Luke Maslen, 24, bedded one young student – under 16 years of age – after giving her cuddly toys and promising to marry her.

He exchanged 200 text messages a day with a second girl, professing his love before having sex with her in his car.

The PE teacher denied seven counts of sexual activity with the two teens, who cannot be named for legal reasons, but was found guilty on all counts at Truro Crown Court.

Maslen wept in the dock as Judge Christopher Harvey Clark QC warned him he faced a substantial jail term.

The judge said: “It will be my sad duty to pass a sentence reflecting the public revulsion at a teacher having undertaken sexual misbehaviour with a pupil and that sentence inevitably will involve imprisonment

“The jury have convicted you on powerful evidence, strong evidence, on these counts and as a consequence I shall be sending you to prison.”

Jurors had heard how Maslen approached the two girls separately on social media in 2012 a year after joining the staff at Callington Community College in Cornwall.

Garth Richardson, prosecuting, said the young teacher was in a “position of trust” but went on to have sexual activity with both teenagers.

The older of the two girls, who was over 16 at the time, told the court her contact with Maslen began as “banter” on Twitter but they were soon exchanging flirty text messages.

She said that three weeks later he asked to meet and drove her to Whitsand Bay, a remote Cornish beach, where they sat in his black Volkswagen for about an hour.

The girl added: “He kissed me. He texted me later saying ‘I really like you. I think this could go somewhere’.”

She said that on another occasion Maslen sent her a message saying “I think I love you”.

The girl described two other occasions when she went for a drive with Maslen, including one where they parked up beside a lake.

She told police in a video recorded interview: “He started putting his hands down my trousers.

“He was being really persistent. He moved me onto his lap. We just had sex in his car.”

The girl, who said she would exchange up to 200 text messages with Maslen each day, added: “I did not want to have sex in a car in a lay-by.

“It is not very romantic for your first time with him.”

The court heard that Maslen admitted to police he was friends with the girl but denied having sex with her, claiming he already had a girlfriend.

Mr Richardson said the younger pupil had sex with Maslen at his house and in her bedroom.

The girl’s mother found out when social workers asked her to take her daughter to police for questioning.

He said: “Her daughter said they had sex four or maybe three times and at one point he had even asked her to marry him and told her to keep it secret.”

That girl told the jury that Maslen would pick her up and drive her to McDonald’s and bought her presents such as flowers and cuddly toys.

Mr Richardson said: “He said she told him she was falling in love with him. He told her nothing could happen because he was a teacher.”

Maslen denied having sex with either pupil and said he was only friends with the older girl, whom he grew close to because he was suffering from depression.

Rupert Taylor, defending, said: “Luke Maslen was foolish and he was in love but he said they did not have intercourse. The defendant has the right to be believed.”

Jurors, however, found him guilty of three counts of sexual activity with a young person or a child by a person in a position of trust and four of sexual activity with a young person or a child who was under the age of consent at the time of the allegations.

Maslen, of Pensilva, Cornwall, was granted conditional bail ahead of sentencing next month.

He was ordered to surrender his passport, not to apply for further travel documents and to live at his parents’ address.