EXCLUSIVE

by Paul Hooper

A perverted guitar tutor pretended to have a mental breakdown in a bid to avoid facing justice for his affair with a 15-year-old girl.

Warped Nicholas Sedgley, 41, had bombarded the Herne Bay schoolgirl with more than 23,000 text messages during a secret four-month relationship.

Then the married musician faked illness in a bid to avoid facing a trial and going to prison for his sex crimes.

But Sedgley hit the wrong chord with a judge who ruled he was a malingerer...and jailed him for four years and 10 months.

The tutor also received more than 11,000 texts in reply from the teenager during their affair, in which he promised to divorce his wife.

He even called the infatuated girl “Mrs Sedgley” and placed a ring on her wedding finger, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

But before his trial Sedgley, who lives with his mother in Ramsgate Road, Margate, claimed he was unfit to plead because of his deteriorating mental health.

Instead a jury last year decided he had committed the sex acts and he was remanded to hospital – but doctors have since ruled he was able to plead.

Sedgley – who also worked for Meals On Wheels – admitted having sex with her on three occasions.

He sat with his head bowed during the hearing – as his victim sat just feet away.

Prosecutor Nicholas Alexander said that after the affair had started “there would have been sexual contact on each and every occasion they met”.

When the girl’s mobile phone was handed to officers they discovered the two had shared about 34,000 texts using a special code where an exclamation mark meant a kiss, a hashtag meant love and brackets meant a hug.

Mr Alexander added: “That was the equivalent to 80 text messages a day, which revealed the extent of his seduction and deception, including that he was going to divorce his wife and marry her.

“He also put a ring on her wedding finger, he added.

Paul Jarvis, defending, said that Sedgley became depressed and suffered anxiety attacks when he started the affair.

He said: “He deserves to be in prison for what he did but he continues to suffer with anxiety. He has now thrown away all his prospects of a career in music. If it was a life-changing experience for her, it certainly has been for him, too.”

But Judge Adele Williams told him: “You seduced and sexually abused your victim. Your conduct has had a damaging and traumatic effect on your victim and her family.

“Taking all the medical evidence into account and the observations of my own eyes, I have no doubt whatsoever that you sought to avoid the consequences of your behaviour by pretending to be ill and by exaggerating natural anxiety feelings.”