Teacher gets jail for sex with pupils

AN art teacher who had sex with two pupils was jailed for 12 months yesterday.

Christopher Cunningham, 58, breached his position of trust by making love to the two teen pupils.

The married father-of-two, of Leith Walk, had sex with one of the girls in front of the other in a tent in Camilty Forest in the east of Scotland. On a second camping trip he had intercourse with both teenagers.

The incidents were exposed in August 2009 after one of the girls wrote to Cunningham's school to tell teachers what had been going on.

Passing sentence, Sheriff Grahame Fleming QC said he accepted that until this offence Cunningham had an unblemished professional life.

He said: "This was a gross breach of trust by you. You knew what you were doing was wrong yet persisted. I consider that no sentence other than prison is appropriate."

The sheriff did not think it necessary to refer the case to Scottish ministers. He has already added Cunningham to the Sex Offenders Register.