by Keith Hunt

A pervert teacher who had "text sex" with an infatuated teenage girl has walked free.

Adrian Moran had been held in custody on remand for almost six months and his lawyer accepted that he should receive a prison sentence.

But a judge said he took the view eight months jail should be suspended.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Medway teacher Moran, 33, sent the girl numerous texts inciting her to carry out sex acts on herself.

Prosecutor Tanya Robinson said because the girl's parents were concerned about the texts they contacted the headteacher at Moran's school, which cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Miss Robinson said the girl denied the texts sent in late 2009 were from Moran and refused to support a prosecution against him.

Her mobile phone was seized and texts from Moran running to four pages were recovered. He told her he wanted her and had erotic dreams about her.

When arrested, Moran's phone was examined but the texts had been deleted and could not be recovered.

He at first claimed he sent the messages to a woman he met in a pub with the aim of sexually arousing himself.

He was granted bail but it was revoked when it was discovered he was still in contact with the victim.

Moran, now of Ross Common, Ireland, admitted three charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Peter Forbes, defending, said Moran was living in a fantasy world over the texts.

"There are no excuses for what he was doing," he said. "It was wrong, very wrong.

"At the same time there is nothing to suggest the texts were unwanted or there was any element of coercion or threat."

Mr Forbes said Moran's life was at the time going "horribly, horribly wrong".

He had separated from his wife and was struggling with a gambling addiction, incurring astonishing debts.

His father was also terminally ill. The offending happened against that background.

Moran was suspended from his school and he will now be banned from working with children.

"It makes the fall even greater," said Mr Forbes. "He is very sorry for what he has done."

Judge Martin Joy told Moran: "The position is there can be no excuse for offences such as this and neither has one been put forward.

"You accept what you did was entirely wrong. Your counsel has conceded it passes the custody threshold.

"I take the view the sentence should be suspended for 12 months."

The judge also imposed supervision but added it was not an appropriate case for a sexual offences prevention order.

Rose Collinson, Medway council's Director of Children and Adult Services, said: "We utterly condemn this type of behaviour and can confirm this teacher was immediately suspended and removed from the school premises once the allegation came to light and has since been dismissed by the school's governing body.

"We take the safety and well-being of all children and young people very seriously and the council's child protection team and the police were involved as soon as this was reported by the child's parents.

"We have thorough safeguarding procedures in place at all of our schools and are committed to ensuring every child receives the best possible education in a safe and secure environment.

"A teacher who behaves in this way has no place in the education system whatsoever and has been barred from ever working with children again.

"This man will now automatically be placed on the sex offenders' register for the next ten years."