A former teacher who told his victim afterwards that he was suffering from sexual tension has been jailed.

Former school teacher jailed for rape: Michael Leydon, 61, had denied the rape in 2014, however police relied heavily on messages that he sent to his victim to obtain a guilty verdict.

Mr Leydon said that after his son was arrested for rape it had placed him under a large amount of stress. James Dunstan, prosecuting, said that the “black and white record” of the texts were there for all to see and that they also contained his confession.

In one of the texts Mr Leydon said “You said last night that I should have stopped on the night I took advantage of you against your will – believe me I wish I had. I cannot change what happened or how you must have felt but I will do anything to try to make amends”.

In another one he told his victim that he “did something disgusting due to drink, tablets and stress”, while a third message said “What I did to you was my fault, albeit I did it on a cocktail of alcohol, sexual frustration and depression.”

Mr Leydon, from Worthing, West Sussex, admitted to being stressed after his son, Christopher Leydon, had previously been arrested on suspicion of rape. The son was later jailed for 7 years in 2017 after being found guilty of rape and child sex offences.

Leydon’s defence barrister, Robert Tolhurst, said at the sentencing hearing on Friday that his client had previously shown good character and that the offence was a “one off” and while his client respects the verdict he continues to maintain his innocence. Leydon was sentenced by the judge to six and a half years in prison although he showed no emotion when the sentence was read out.

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