A FORMER North-East teacher was jailed for two years yesterday after an affair with a teenage girl.

Married Christopher Battenbo twice booked into a hotel with the 15-year-old for sex after she showed him her diary in which she wrote that she fancied him.

He also took him to his home when his wife was out.

Battenbo, 27, of Tarr Steps, Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, was sacked from his school after rumours spread.

Jeremy Hill-Baker, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court how the affair started with "virtual meetings" in Internet chatrooms.

They met on a railway station and he drove her to Darlington, where they kissed and cuddled. Mr Hill-Baker said: "She was willing to meet him and to allow their relationship to develop into a sexual one. She told police that she loved him."

When Battenbo was interviewed by police, he agreed that they sent each other text messages. The girl was interviewed on video and she made reluctant admissions.

Tom Moran, in mitigation, said: "He is not a sexual predator.

"The girl was extremely irritated by the steps taken by him to make sure that sexual intercourse was what she wanted.

"His wife is now divorcing him. He has brought shame upon himself and his family."

Battenbo was jailed for two years, banned from working with young people for 15 years, and ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.

He pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse and two charges of indecent assault between January and July last year.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, said: "Although this girl ... appears to be perfectly willing as regards all that occurred between you, you must have known from start to finish that you were in grave, serious breach of your duty to her and of the trust which it was encumbent upon you to preserve."