Teacher to wed ex-pupil he met when she was 16

A TEACHER who set up home with his pupil five years ago is to marry her this week.

Former choirmaster John Forrester, 47, was head of music when it was revealed he had started a relationship with 16-year-old pupil Claire Bennett at Kincorth Academy, Aberdeen.

The teacher, who had left his wife after allegations of an affair with another pupil three years earlier, was later struck off by the General Teaching Council.

He and Ms Bennett, now 22, the mother of two of his four children, plan to marry next Saturday. A wedding notice has been published at Aberdeen City Council's Registrar Office.

A family friend said yesterday: "It was all very controversial at the time because there was such a big age gap.

"I suppose we'll know how people really feel when it comes to the reception and we see who turns up. But everyone, all the family, are going to the wedding.

"Claire and John do love each other - they wouldn't still be together otherwise."

The couple's relationship caused uproar when it was discovered in 2005.

Mr Forrester started his relationship with Ms Bennett after she joined an all-girl school choir. At that time, he had not long been reinstated after being investigated over an alleged affair with another teenage pupil, Carrie-Ann Anderson, 17.

The first accusation happened when he was living with his first wife and their two children. The couple split up in 2002, after the allegations were made.

Mr Forrester was cleared of any wrongdoing in that case and allowed to return to his senior post at Kincorth Academy, although he was kept under supervision. But when Ms Bennett, who had been bullied at another school, joined his class and the choir, the pair fell in love. She ran away from home to be with him and the couple moved in together in February 2005.

Mr Forrester abandoned his post at that time, and Ms Bennett quit her studies. He was later struck off by the General Teaching Council of Scotland.

News of the affair led to a police investigation and he was charged under the Sexual Offences Act, but the Crown Office dropped the case and an independent report cleared school staff and city council employees.

The couple's children were born in 2005 and 2008.