The stepmother of the schoolgirl abducted by maths teacher Jeremy Forrest and taken to France has said that if the youngster 'wants to spend her life with him, so be it'.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, 'Dawn' said that the runaway schoolgirl now attends college with a new identity, as her former teacher Forrest, 30, serves out his prison sentence.
The youngster is said to have changed her hair colour and dresses in a way that doesn't attract unnecessary attention in an attempt to live a normal life and have 'fresh start'.
And although social workers have banned the teenager from visiting or communicating with Forrest until she is 18, her stepmother reveals that although she would like her to meet someone and 'be happy', they will support her 'if that someone is Jeremy'.
"[she] loves him, and as far as we are aware she is just waiting until he comes out of prison," Dawn told the paper. "I can't lie and say there haven't been times when I have screamed and cursed, called for his blood. He took our kid and that is unforgivable, but that kind of anger eats you up and you have to let it go."
She said that the disgraced teacher was being punished for his actions, and that the family do not 'hate him', but added: 'I'm not sure he'd ever come round here for tea and cake. We will never feel 100 per cent confident about him'.
Dawn said that the sixth-former is now 'very humble and apologetic' over the upset she's caused and 'never stops saying sorry'.
"She was only 15. She didn't realise her whole life was going to be splattered all over the papers and the internet," she said.
Despite appearing to accept that the teenager will potentially be reunited with Forrest, Dawn admitted she will 'never understand' what was going through his head when he ran away to France with the her:
"He was her teacher. He was in a position of trust. If he really loved her, wouldn't he have waited until she was older, or at the very least let her parents know she was safe?" she said.