Shirley Manson: ‘Teacher relationship consensual’

SHIRLEY Manson has issued an online clarification over press reports of her sexual relationship with a music teacher when she was just 15 years old.

Speaking on her Facebook page, Manson said that she had not been the victim of a paedophile, and that the relationship had been consensual.

Manson’s statement read: “I want to make it perfectly clear once and for all that I have never been the victim of a paedophile nor have I ever claimed to be.

“I was a few weeks shy of my 16th birthday, sixteen being the legal age of consent in Scotland, when I engaged in a fully consensual relationship with a teacher whose real identity I have always been careful to protect.”

Manson added: “At no point have I ever said this teacher was an employee of Edinburgh Council.” The council launched an investigation after Manson revealed the relationship in an interview last week.

The Garbage singer concluded: “There are so many people who have been the true victims of sexual abuse throughout the world and they deserve justice and our compassion.

“However I do believe a distinction must be made between a person who is within weeks of the legal age of consent and an innocent child.

“Otherwise we all in danger of becoming distracted from the really serious issue at hand which is that of child abuse. An issue which genuinely demands our urgent and focused attention.”