A teacher who pursued a teenage schoolgirl until she ended up in his arms was jailed for 18 months yesterday.

　　Though the relationship between Gavin Lister, 31, and the 15-year-old girl did not end up with their having full sex, he bombarded her with text messages until they were in a relationship that involved passionate kissing and intimate touching.

　　Lister, a married man with three children, lost his job as a PE teacher at King's School, Peterborough, after his arrest in January. The school is regularly one of the highest ranking state schools in the country.

　　At an earlier hearing at Peterborough Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 15 and abusing a position of trust.

　　The court was told that Lister only started work at the school last year after returning with his family from Australia. He met the girl in September and by December his approaches towards her had become physical, said Angela Rafferty, prosecuting.

　　"It seems there were a number of areas of contact which included text messages, he sent 320 in January, and internet contact. She also became a member of the local gym which Lister went to," said Miss Rafferty.

　　Lister was arrested when his wife Clare, 35, went to the police after the victim's mother found a letter in her daughter's bedroom.

　　Lister told police his marriage had been "loveless" and that his relationship with the girl was "a mutual thing".

　　Claire Matthews, defending, told the court: "He's full of remorse for his actions. Emotions overtook logic."

　　In sentencing Lister, Judge Nicholas Coleman said: "It was an utterly inappropriate relationship borne out of your obsession with her. You plainly groomed her by texting her persistently."

　　He told Lister he would serve half the 18-month sentence before being released on licence.

　　Lister was also banned for life from working with children.