A former science teacher has been jailed for being in a sexual relationship with a pupil.

Robert Hanna, 43, has been jailed for three years for six counts of sexual activity with a child whilst in a position of trust.

Hanna, of Southwark, appeared at Inner London Crown Court on Tuesday, November 23. 

The court heard how Hanna was a teacher at a school in Southwark from 2015 until May 2019 when he was subsequently dismissed.

During this time he began having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old pupil whom he helped to achieve good grades in physics.

During a school prom he asked a group of pupils to meet up with him.

Hanna then purchased alcohol and met with a few of the girls.

A sexual relationship began with the victim, over a four-month period.

The victim told Hanna that she wanted the relationship to end but he persuaded her to meet with him one more time, he then broke up with her.

On Monday, April 1 2019 the victim found the courage to inform a teacher of what had been happening and the school immediately suspended him.

Police were alerted and an investigation began, led by specialist officers from Central South Child Abuse Investigation Team.

Officers interviewed him the following day and he denied being in a sexual relationship with the victim.

A subsequent investigation found hotel check in and check out confirmation, banks statements and phone download evidence that corroborated the account given by the victim.

In May 2020 Hanna was charged.

Hanna had previously been found guilty following a trial at the same court on Tuesday, October 19, following a 12-day trial.

During the trial the investigating detective travelled to the North East of England in order to obtain further evidence from the victim and additional evidence to secure the unanimous guilty verdict.

He has also been issued with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), preventing him from having any unsupervised contact with people under 18 and he will be subject to the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Detective Constable Erica Slater, from Central South Command, said: “This was a complex case where Hanna denied everything from the beginning and lied continuously throughout the case.

"However, the victim courageously remained steadfast in her evidence and following a thorough investigation his accounts were disproved.

“Today’s sentence highlights the severity of this case and I would encourage anyone who is a victim of or victim to sexual abuse in any context to contact police.

"We have specially trained officers to investigate as well as ensuring there is ongoing support provided to the victims.”

If you have been a victim of sexual assault or rape or you have information about an offender, contact police on 101 or 999 in an emergency – there are specially trained officers who will listen and investigate where appropriate.

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