A FORMER teaching assistant is due to appear in court charged with indecent assault.

Mark Bennett, who worked as a learning support assistant at the Discovery School, Kings Hill, until July last year, has been charged with assaulting a girl under 13.

The alleged incident is said to have occurred between January and May 2005.

The 35-year-old, who has since moved to Boston in Lincolnshire, was charged on Thursday,August 24 and bailed to appear at Maidstone Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

The maximum sentence for assaulting a girl under 13 is 14 years imprisonment and inclusion on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

The Discovery School opened its doors to 100 pupils in September 2003.

Neither the school nor the education authority, Kent County Council, was prepared to comment.