Caters
A headteacher in Coventry has pleaded guilty to child abduction charges after it was alleged he took a teenage pupil out for meals and sent her inappropriate text messages.
Brian Knowles, 57, from Birmingham, taught at Barr's Hill School in Radford, Coventry. He appeared at Coventry Crown Court charged with four counts of abducting a child.
He was accused of taking the 15-year-old pupil out for meals at fast food restaurants without her parents' consent, and of sending her inappropriate text messages.
He has taught for 39 years, but was suspended from Barr's Hill School after his arrest earlier this year.
At the time of his alleged offences, he had been in charge of child protection at the school, which involved regular meetings with police.
He was charged with 'detaining a child so as to keep them from a person having lawful control' under the Child Abduction Act 1984.
Knowles was granted bail with the conditions that he have no contact with the victim or witnesses and have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 16.
Recorder Roger Evans said: "There is a clear public interest in this case. I'm not going to sentence a case of this particularly difficult variety without a full pre-sentence report."
He adjourned the case until later this month.
Since the allegations, Knowles has resigned from his job and plans to move away from the area.