Head fined for harassment

John Teasdale was fined £4,250 for harassing Julie Kenny

A former private school head teacher has been fined £4,250 by magistrates for harassing the mother of an ex-pupil.

John Teasdale sent 34-year-old Julie Kenny letters, presents, poems and a Valentine's Day rose over the course of a year, the court heard.

Some notes were left in Mrs Kenny's daughter's lunchbox and he regularly arrived at her home uninvited.

Teasdale, 55, pleaded guilty in September to harassing Mrs Kenny between June 2002 and February this year.

The court was told he had now resigned as head of Ashbrooke House School in Weston-Super-Mare.

Fence repaired

Prosecuting, Melanie Phipps told North Somerset Magistrates in Weston how Teasdale's interest in Mrs Kenny began when he discovered she had separated from her husband.

The first hand-delivered note to her said that "if she was a good girl she could have a ride in his sports car".

He went to her home on numerous occasions and she returned home from one holiday to find he had paid for repairs to her garden fence.

On Thursday, Teasdale, whose wife attended court with him, was fined £4,250 and ordered to pay £2,500 in compensation to Mrs Kenny along with £475 prosecution costs.

A restraining order was also made prohibiting him from contacting or harassing Mrs Kenny.