A former teacher who had sex with a pupil has to wait to hear his fate after a judge declined to sentence him.

Mark Spendley (pictured left) was due to be sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court, but Judge Philip St John-Stevens said he did not agree with the basis of plea entered.

The 35-year-old married media studies teacher, of High Street, Queenborough, Sheppey, admitted sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.

A second charge of causing or inciting the girl to engage in sexual activity by a person in a position of trust was left on the court file.

The offence was committed while Spendley was teaching at the Hundred of Hoo comprehensive, in Hoo, near Rochester. The girl has since left.

She and another former pupil, who agreed to be named in a national newspaper, later claimed they had affairs with him.

Abigail Husbands, prosecuting, said Spendley accepted he was aware of the girl’s vulnerability.

The victim stated Spendley had intercourse with her on two occasions within a short space of time.

Tom Stern, defending, told the judge: "There is not a course of conduct of sexual activity over a period of time."

The teacher, he said, abused his position of trust by allowing the situation to develop and involve sexual intercourse.

Mr Stern said a basis of plea had been unequivocally accepted by the Crown at the previous hearing before Judge David Griffith-Jones QC.

But Judge St John-Stevens said because he had expressed a different view, he would send the matter back to Judge Griffith-Jones to sentence Spendley on July 30.