Martial arts instructor jailed for sex with girl
A martial arts teacher who had sex with a 14-year-old pupil has been jailed.
Neil Levesley was asked to take the girl for private Tae Kwon Do lessons and the pair had sex twice at his home after they became close, Cambridge Crown Court heard.
The 32-year-old bank worker, who was aware of the youngster's age and had confided in one of her friends the relationship could "ruin his career", admitted two charges of unlawful sexual activity.
He was sentenced to 21 months.
The two stopped seeing one another at the end of last year because of the age issue, but got back together, Sara Walker, for the prosecution, told the court.
The girl's mother became suspicious about the nature of the friendship and confronted them, but both denied they were in a relationship.
When police were informed of the suspicions they seized the pair's phones and found texts from Levesley to the girl about how much he loved being with her.
Levesley, arrrested in March at his home, Croft Park Road, Ely, confessed to what had happened between them. The friendship had developed into an emotional relationship when Levesley was at a "low ebb", following the sudden break-up with his long-term partner, Mark Shelley told the court in mitigation.
"He had had a large setback in his life and formed the friendship with the girl which then developed," he said.
"This was not a grooming type of operation. This was not a predatory case where a man identified someone he could prey on.
"This developed was an emotional relationship which was very much consensual."
Rejecting an appeal for a suspended sentence to enable Levesley's participation on a sex offender programme, Judge Anthony Batewho told him that as a mature adult, he should have resisted temptation.
"You were the girl's trusted teacher. Adults who cross the line have to be punished and I regard an immediate term of imprisonment as the only sentence appropriate," he said.
He also banned Levesley from working with children under the age of 16 in future and ordered him to sign on the Sex Offender register when he is freed.