A PRIMARY school teacher and her lover tried to lure a 13-year-old girl into sordid sexual activity on the internet

A PRIMARY school teacher and her lover tried to lure a 13-year-old girl into sordid sexual activity on the internet, a court heard.

Lynda Forster, of Jones Close, Yatton, will spend five years on the sex offenders’ register and will probably have her two children taken away from her after she and her lover Sammer Patanker tried to lead a teenager into lurid exploits in an internet chatroom.

But Bristol Crown Court heard that the youngster the pair tried to corrupt’ was probably a middle aged man masquerading as a young girl.

Forster, who at the time was working as a teacher at Sandford Primary School, promised to find Patanker a barely legal’ girl who would be a pretty little blonde thing in a grey skirt and white blouse’ to talk to on the internet.

But the pair blamed each other when the police caught them. The court heard how Forster had become obsessed with pleasing Patanker, claiming that she started an online conversation with a young girl for his sexual pleasure.

Holding her head in her hands, Forster was handed a two-year community order with supervision, and Patanker, of Manchester, will be sentenced after more reports have been carried out to see if he can be offered any treatment. Both admitted charges of attempting to incite sexual activity with a 13-year-old and 31-year-old Patanker also pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images.

Forster was sacked from her job at Sandford Primary School after the sleazy tale was revealed. Prosecutor Ian Dixey told the court when the 33-year-old’s marriage began to break down in 2004 she moved in with a friend and started using her computer.

North Somerset Council has confirmed the offences were not linked to the school in any way and said all computers at the village site have been checked.

Forster made friends with Patanker in internet chatrooms and they began emailing each other. They met in person and their friendship developed into a sexual relationship.

But Forster, who suffers from a depressive disorder, became obsessed with her new lover and her defence solicitor told the court she pandered to him, compulsively trying to please him, and he began to coax her into speaking to girls younger than 16 while online.

Forster’s friend discovered evidence of an internet conversation on her computer between the lurid pair and a 13-year-old girl. She did not contact the police straight away but changed her mind when she found indecent images of children on Forster’s email account. Officers later tracked down Patanker in Yorkshire where he was studying medicine and found CDs of organised indecent images of children in his home.

Mr Dixey read a selection of entries from the conversation dated 12.45am on May 18, 2005, to the court.

He said: “They both discussed how late it was and how they should go to bed. Patanker said: In a bit, only if you tell me how you will pick up the schoolgirl I want you to corrupt. Will it be an innocent 16-year-old, barely legal, or will younger be a problem?’

“Forster replied: Whatever, it’s up to you, I would prefer a 16-year-old. A pretty little blonde thing in a grey skirt and white blouse.’

“Within a short time with his encouragement, Forster has found someone with the name Donna.”

Mr Dixey described how Donna’ said she was 13 and how the conversation degenerated into the pair asking Donna to send them pictures of her in just her underwear. Donna then left the conversation.

Defending Forster, Ignatius Hughes told the court police inquires showed Donna’ was more likely to be a middle aged man than a vulnerable 13-year-old girl experimenting in chat rooms.

He also said her ex-husband will now probably take sole custody of her children.

Mr Hughes said: “Forster is a 33-year-old mother and wife with good previous character.

“Her ex-husband and sister’s statements show that she was viewed by them as vulnerable, obsessive and acting wholly out of character. She had an attachment to Patanker which was abnormal which took a hold of her. Their relationship was intimate but mostly over the internet. She pandered to him and became obsessed with pleasing him with the wish of keeping the relationship, even at that level, going.

“What she did was not for her sexual pleasure but to initiate a sexual conversation for Patanker. She is not a paedophile.”

Judge Julian Lambert said when sentencing Forster that she will have contact with the Lucy Faithful Foundation, a child protection charity.