A former teacher has gone on trial accused of the “campaign of grooming and mounting abuse” of a pupil.

Carly Dear, a former PE teacher at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, in Maidstone, pleaded not guilty to seven charges of sexual abuse earlier this year.

Now, the 46-year-old stands trial at Canterbury Crown Court for the historic allegations, which reportedly occurred while she was a serving teacher.

Dear handed the girl sweets, provided extra support and attacked her in changing rooms, prosecutors said.

“You will hear quite quickly a special relationship was started, sweets were being given, as was extra support,” Gary Venturi explained.

Dear would gradually touch the girl in increasingly abusive ways, first groping her in changing rooms until eventually coaxing her to her Whitstable home, the court heard.

“She started to inappropriately touch the girl in the school changing rooms - not something that can be mistaken for a friendly hug or a tap of encouragement.

“She proceeded to touch her in any way she wanted and abused her,” the prosecutor continued.

Dear denied any wrongdoing following her arrest, the court heard.

But her victim told detectives she was subjected to a terrifying ordeal as Dear’s “spiralling” breach of trust unfolded.

After the girl suffered an injury, Dear handed over her mobile number suggesting she saved it “as Misty because it sounded like Miss D,” she told officers.

Dear would call her “all the time”, text “love you”, and send “this strange symbol that was like a hug,” she told police.

“She was like, ‘Don’t ever leave me unless you give me a hug, because what if something happened?’

“It was such an intense hug - she just would not let me go,” she said.

The girl described Dear carrying out increasingly lurid acts at her home and in hotels, increasing in severity, which eventually led to her being sexually assaulted “a lot for years.”

Meanwhile, Dear would force the girl to hide inside her car to keep away from prying eyes during journeys.

“The sexual stuff got worse and worse, she would be like ‘I can’t wait for you to come around again’,” she went on.

“I remember shutting myself in the shower and thinking ‘I don’t want to go out.’”

After starting university Dear “kept hounding her”, she travelled hundreds of miles to the girl’s campus and locked her in a hotel room in a bid to perform sexual acts, she explained.

But when she said she was going to the police, Dear “panicked” and would send her money, roughly about £10,000, she said.

“Do you think she thought she was in a relationship with you?” The officer asked.

“I think so, yes,” she replied.

Dear, who now lives in Thatcham, Berkshire, is charged with five counts of indecent assault, one count of abusing a position of trust and inciting sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 17.

Dear, who appeared in the dock wearing a dark jacket and Covid mask, is yet to argue her case.

The trial, expected to last about two weeks and presided over by Judge Mark Weekes, continues.

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