A public school teacher who had a lesbian affair with her teenage pupil wept today as she was jailed today for 15 months.
Helen Goddard, 26, met the 15-year-old through her work at a top girls' school and even took her on a romantic weekend to Paris.
When she was arrested after an anonymous tip-off, police found sex toys and 'fluffy hand cuffs' at her house.
Judge Anthony Pitts said the pair had a 'full-on sexual relationship' for many months despite Goddard knowing it was wrong and a huge risk to her career.
Goddard, who admitted six charges of sexual activity with a child last month, wiped away tears as she was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court.
'You clearly knew it was wrong to a start a sexual relationship with her and you knew the dangers to your career as a teacher,' the judge said.
Helen Goddard
Jailed: Helen Goddard arriving at Southwark Crown Court today where she was sentenced to 15 months for having a lesbian affair with a pupil
Wearing a white blouse, black waistcoat and trousers, the music teacher known as the Jazz Lady by her pupils bowed her head as she was sent down.
On top of the jail sentence, Goddard was banned from working with children for life and ordered to stay on the sex offenders' register for 10 years.
But a sexual offences prevention order banning her from seeing her lover for five years was not passed, meaning she will be able to see her as soon as she is released.
The order would have been 'draconian and unnecessarily cruel' to the teenager, the judge ruled.
The 15-year-old, who insists the relationship was consensual and their sex life was instigated by her, has vowed to continue the relationship when she turns 16.
A trumpet player, Goddard is a one-time child prodigy who performed at the opening of the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000.
The judge said she was 'clearly an intelligent woman and a talented musician'.
She met the teenager through her work at a ?13,0000-a-year girls' school, which cannot be named for legal reasons.
They started going for coffee after lessons and then began a fully-fledged fling. Trysts included an overnight stay at the teacher's home and a weekend in Paris.
The school were oblivious until an anonymous tip-off from a parent. Police and social services went to the pupil's home but were told she was staying with Goddard.
Goddard was later arrested and a number of sex toys were found at her home in Greenwich, south east London.
On her mobile phone, which was seized, police found 157 texts from the girl to her teacher and 60 replied.
Many were of an 'intimate and affectionate nature, some explicitly sexual,' the court heard.
One from the teacher read: 'It's gonna be a beautiful day. I love you, you were on my mind all night.'
Regina Naughton, prosecuting, said the teenager initially denied everything but 24 hours later confessed to her mother.
'She said she, the girl, had instigated the relationship and felt guilty for the situation she had put Ms Goddard in, and that she wished to continue the relationship. She also told her mother she was devastated that Ms Goddard would go to prison, and that she would not commit suicide as she wished to say goodbye to her,' the court heard.
The pair had feelings for each other but their relationship was 'not planned or expected', Ms Naughton said.
'This developed into them flirting with each other and sending text messages to each other. They went for a walk one day and she describes kissing Ms Goddard on the lips, which Ms Goddard responded to.'
The teenager lied to her parents so that she could stay at her teacher's house, where they shared a bed and kissed. More overnight stays followed.
They also had 'sexual relations' at the girl's home, the barrister said.
In June, they had said they loved each other and the teenager told her parents she was going to France to see a relative so that they could fly to Paris together.
They went to the Gay Pride March that weekend during their visit.
Goddard had spoken about quitting her job so that they could stay together, the girl had told police. She said she told Goddard to lie initially when they were discovered.
She admitted later that 'both of them knew what they were doing was legally wrong, but that it felt right'.
The judge said it was a 'difficult' case because the girl had clearly stated she agreed to all sexual contact and had even instigated it.
But he stressed that it was still illegal to have sex with anyone under 16, regardless of consent, and that it was a serious offence.
It was even worse that Goddard had been her music teacher throughout their fling and 'from well before the sexual relationship started', he said.
This means their relationship would still be illegal until after the girl turned 18, the judge told the court.
Goddard had been a 'big hit' with her pupils who flocked to her room at break times and colleagues had warned her about being 'over-friendly and too popular'.
The school had felt 'betrayed' by the fling, particularly by the 'deception of the Paris weekend', Judge Pitts said.
In a victim impact statement, the girl's parents claimed Goddard had gone 'out of her way' to befriend their 'vulnerable' daughter.
'Under the guise of helping her we now understand that for over five months she was betraying our trust and our daughter's,' they said.
They said they did not believe Goddard fully understood the 'seriousness of breaking the boundary and completely breaching the trust of a teacher-pupil relationship'.
But Anthony Heaton-Armstrong, defending, insisted she was 'very remorseful' and was 'not in any sense a 'sexual predator'.
Sexual activity with a child under 13 is always deemed to be assault as those so young are held to be incapable of giving consent.
Those over 13 are capable of consenting, but sexual activity with them remains illegal, particularly for their teachers.
Goddard played the trumpet from an early age and was a member of Hampshire County Youth Band as a teenager.
She was one of only five young English musicians invited to play at the Sydney Olympics ceremony and raised the money for her air fare herself.
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