A music teacher made Penelope feel special with one-to-one lessons but then sexually abused her
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Penelope was 16 when she began studying A level music. The teacher, Guy, convinced her she should have extra lessons alone with him.
She later realised that singling her out for individual attention was a ploy to give him the opportunity to abuse her.
Penelope says that Guy was highly regarded in the local community. As well as flattering her, he made a point of befriending her family, but she remembers that her father didn’t like him very much.
Guy, who was several decades older than Penelope, manipulated his teenage pupil into believing she was having a romantic relationship with him. He told her he loved her and she says that at the time, she believed she felt ‘overwhelming’ love for him.
At first the sexual abuse was carried out on the pretext of exercises related to the music lessons, such as instructing her to breathe while he touched her chest. Then he began to rape her, and get her to masturbate him. This occurred on many occasions at school, in a store cupboard, on school trips and in his house.
The abuse continued after Penelope went to university, but stopped when she met her future husband.
It was only after watching a television drama some years later that Penelope realised she had been groomed and abused. She went to the police and gave a statement but it could not be used for legal reasons.
However, Guy was convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault and sent to prison.
Penelope feels the abuse has made it difficult for her to trust other people and her own judgement. She feels confusion about intimacy and love.
She is married to a teacher and although she trusts her husband, she is aware that she projects her experiences onto his relationship with his students.
She also feels that she is overprotective of her child.
Penelope believes that one-to-one teaching sessions should not be allowed, and she would like there to be more education about grooming in schools and also for jurors in trials.