Mass-produced colour photolithography on paper for Toy Theatre; Romeo and Juliet (background and surroundings removed) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
He wasn’t a Capulet and she wasn’t a Montague but they were two star crossed lovers that weren’t meant to be together……
Jeremy Forrest, a teacher, fell in love with the one person that he shouldn’t have. Perhaps it was her heavy mascara or her lipgloss, her tweets were riveting. Talk of ‘banging blokes’ between her and her friends definitely didn’t give the impression that she was your average 15 year old.
Jeremy Forrest now faces a sentence for his crime, ‘child abduction’. Child Abduction because Megan Stammers was 15 and left home without the consent of her parents even though she ‘willingly’ left with a suitcase on her own free will. But she didn’t exactly have ‘free will’ being a minor.
In France, the legal age of consent is 15 and therefore IF anything happened between the two in their hotel room, he CANNOT be charged for it since a) it happened outside of the UK and b) the legal age of consent is 15 in France.
He had a position of trust, he broke that, and he should never be allowed to teach again but …that’s where the line has to be drawn. It does appear that the likelihood is that in 6 months time when Jeremy Forrest is divorced from his current wife, he will more than likely pop the question and the two will elope (if he is out of jail) and marry.
The only crime that Jeremy Forrest has commited is falling in love with the wrong person and in this case, a girl who definitely seems and acts older than her years. In many cultures, this wouldn’t be ‘frowned’ upon and really wouldn’t have been made such a huge deal of. She wasn’t harmed in any way and doesn’t appear to have been at any point in danger.
Jeremy Forrest has refused to stay in France as he wants to be ‘closer to Megan’.
His lawyer say that it seems like a genuine story of love and passion, the French really love a good romance eh?
What do you think? Should he go on the Sex Offenders register? Does he deserve to serve time behind bars? Yes, he had a position of trust – that is WRONG but is falling in love wrong too? If this girl were 16- would there be such a huge deal? How can ‘water’ make a difference? If this had happened in France, nothing would be done to him. Isn’t it time the UK fixed some of these ridiculous laws?
Here are a few examples:
You can leave school on the June if you turn 16 before September of the same school year but if you choose to leave school, get a full time job, you can’t drive there as you cannot drive a car until 17.
You can get a part time job at the age of 14 but not a full time job until the age of 15.
You can have a full time job at 15 yet school is compulsory until 16- when does one sleep if one has school 9-3 and then works 40 hours?
You can drive a car at 17 but not a bus until 21.
You can drive a glider at 16 but not a helicopter until 18 and an aeroplane at 19.
You can smoke at 16 but cannot drink until 18.
The age of consent is 16 but you can’t drink until 18. You can get pregnant at 16 but not drink alcohol until 18- which is more of a responsibility? A child or a beer?
UK- Sort your laws out. The Law is an ASS (in the UK)
