A FORMER biology teacher at a Burnley high school placed an under-age schoolgirl on the pill while they had a sexual affair, a court heard.

Joseph Cheesbrough, then a teacher at St Hilda’s RC High, began paying extra attention to the 14-year-old while she was in her third year there in the 1970s, the town’s crown court was told.

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But this progressed to him groping her while the pair were on a school trip to Ainsdale beach, near Southport, it is alleged.

Prosecutor Emma Kehoe said later, while she was cleaning a minibus he ran for the trips, he offered her alcohol, which she accepted, before he kissed her for the first time. On other occasions, while she cleaned the vehicle, he also touched her inappropriately, it is claimed.

Before too long the relationship had progressed and she was asked to perform sex acts on the teacher, the court heard, against the backdrop of the minibus trips.

Miss Kehoe said the pair had full consensual sex on a number of occasions after that but Cheesbrough was not facing any charges over that, as those matters were not reported at the time. But he was facing prosecution over related sexual activity which took place during this time, such as kissing and touching the girl.

Cheesbrough, now 67, of Gable Avenue, Cockermouth, is also accused of carrying out two serious sexual assaults on the girl, one of which is alleged to have happened at Crown Point in Burnley.

Miss Kehoe said when the girl was 15 he advised her to begin taking the contraceptive pill, as they continued to have sex. She added: “He told her what to say because she was under the age of consent and she had to explain to the doctor why she needed the pill.”

The court heard the girl left St Hilda’s in 1976 and be broke off the relationship a short while later. Cheesbrough left the school around the same time.

Miss Kehoe said the alleged victim, now 56, reported the sexual abuse allegations for the first time to police in October 2013. Cheesbrough was arrested and interviewed, denying any sexual relationship had ever taken place, the court heard.

He denied the girl cleaned his minibus, that she babysat for him or he had orchestrated her obtaining the pill. Cheesbrough has pleaded not guilty to nine offences of indecent assault and two serious sexual assaults. The trial continues.