A former teacher wept in the dock as she was convicted of sexually assaulting a pupil in a long-running campaign of abuse.

Carly Dear plied the girl with sweets, groomed her and even followed her victim to university, a jury ruled.

Dear branded her brave mentally scarred victim’s accusations “a lie, sick and disgusting” during a trial at Canterbury Crown Court.

But jurors convicted the 46-year-old of six charges of historic sexual abuse while she was a serving PE teacher at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, in Maidstone.

The former Ashford women's hockey captain bowed her head and wept after the verdict was delivered.

Dear’s victim told jurors she was “convinced she was in a relationship with the pupil" and became “furious” when she discovered she had a boyfriend.

The girl told how Dear plied her with sweets to groom her before groping her in changing rooms and repeatedly sexually assaulting her.

Dear would harass the girl over the phone and say “I missed you so much” when she returned from holidays.

She also told the girl she loved her repeatedly and coaxed her back to her home in Whitstable, where she carried out progressively serious sexual acts.

After the student started university, Dear kept hounding her and travelled hundreds of miles to her campus and locked her in a hotel room in a bid to perform sexual acts.

When the girl said she was going to the police, Dear "panicked" and said she would send her around £10,000.

But Dear told jurors “It is a lie, it is sick and disgusting. I have had this for years, that I have done something that I did not do.

“The allegations have taken my home, my teaching career, all for something I did not do.”

Dear, who also taught at Brockhill Park in Hythe and Rochester Grammar School, told prosecutors from the box: “I am not the monster.”

She also rebuked allegations she bribed the girl with £10,000 when she threatened to go to police.

Dear argued the money was to help her with a drug problem, exercise classes and help her rebuild her life after an unexpected financial issue.

She added the pupil made advances onto her, listening to her problems, sending texts and offering lifts.

When prosecutor Gary Venturi asked if she assaulted the girl inside her car, she said: “No.”

“I am not the monster...”

She was convicted by majority of four counts of indecent assault, one count of abusing a position of trust and inciting sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 17.

She was acquitted of one count of sexual assault, an allegation she touched the girl over clothes in school changing rooms.

Dear has since stopped teaching and has no wish to return, John Connor mitigating said.

“Although she is employed that might not be the case when we return for sentence,” he added.

Jurors took just under 22 hours of deliberations, prompting a judge’s praise.

“I just want to express my gratitude. Just under 22 hours, it just goes to show just how much care you took on this case, goodness me, you have worked through it,” Judge Mark Weekes said.

He told Dear "A lengthy custodial sentence is inevitable" and her "head has been buried in the sand."

Dear, who now lives in Thatcham, Berkshire, was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on January 14 pending reports.

To read more of our in depth coverage of all of the major trials coming out of crown and magistrates' courts across the county, click here.

For information on how we can report on court proceedings, click here.