Life ruined by teacher

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Jan 23, 2006

Paedophile teacher William Gibson's victim has spoken for the first time to reveal he ruined her life through his manipulation.

The woman was just 15 when she was indecently assaulted by Gibson who was a 32-year-old physics teacher at the Sunderland school where she was a pupil in 1980.

She says he abused his position of authority and is angry he has been allowed to teach again.

She has also spoken of her anger at the Government's failure to protect children and slammed Education Secretary Ruth Kelly for allowing him back into the classroom.

The victim, now aged 41, spoke to the media for the first time after the agency that employed Gibson, 59, said last week his permission to work with children had not been revoked.

She said: "I was a naive, vulnerable and in some ways foolish teenager who had never really had a boyfriend before.

"He was an adult in a position of responsibility, but he abused that trust. He manipulated me and stole my innocence."

In 2003, when the woman learned he had taken a teaching post at St Joseph's School, in Hebburn, she called the authorities to get him dismissed.

She said: "I felt I had a duty to alert the authorities that someone like him shouldn't be allowed in the classroom. I rang the local authority and the Department for Education and Skills, but nobody would listen to me."