A TEACHER has been jailed for nine months after being convicted of sexually abusing a 14-year-old pupil.

And today, more than 20 years after the attack, his victim said: "I'm glad we've finally nailed him."

Donald Hunt, 52, a former religious education teacher at Rhyddings High School, Oswaldtwistle, indecently assaulted the boy in a storeroom at the school in 1984.

Judge Andrew Gilbart QC said Hunt was a "despicable man" who had "abused his position of trust".

And his victim, now 35, said Hunt was a "dangerous paedophile".

In addition to his jail term Hunt, a married father-of- three, was also ordered to sign a sexual offence prevention order, which will forbid him from approaching, or contacting, any young male.

Hunt began his career as a teacher in 1979 at Rhyddings, before moving to Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School in 1990.

He has now been sacked from his role as head of RE at Whitehaven School, West Cumbria, where he has been based since 1999. He lives in nearby Seascale.

In sentencing, Judge Gilbart said: "You are a gifted teacher and you are a man who has achieved great things for a great many pupils.

"But part of the essence of being a schoolmaster is that those that trust their children to your care must be able to rely on your proper conduct.

"This boy was vulnerable and you knew that."

Judge Gilbart revealed he had received 25 character references on behalf of Hunt, an active member of the Christian church in Lancashire and Cumbria for all his adult life.

His wife, Sylvia, has pledged to stand by her husband.

At Preston Crown Court a jury heard that Hunt had lured the boy into a storeroom before a lesson.

Hunt told the youngster that he was to perform a role-play exercise in the class, where he would pretend to have been sexually assaulted in Rhyddings Park.

Once in the storeroom Hunt told the boy to pull down his underpants inside his trousers before he put his hand into one of the boy's pockets and touched him.

Speaking after the case, his victim said the assault had ruined his life.

He said: "For more than 10 years I really went off the rails.

"Even after 20 years I am still angry, and I'm glad that he has been sent to prison."

During the case Hunt always denied the assault, but the jury heard from a string of witnesses with similar stories.

A 33-year-old man said that, as a youngster, Hunt had taken him into a storeroom at Rhyddings after an RE lesson before a sexual assault took place.

Again the boy was asked to take down his underpants inside his trousers.

A school caretaker also told the court that when he was 27 in 1987 he had been approached by Hunt at Rhyddings to become a model.

Hunt had taken him to his room before talking about underwear modelling and asking him to drop his trousers to see if he "measured up".

The court heard that in 2000 Hunt was given a formal warning at Whitehaven School after he approached a 12-year-old boy about underwear modelling.

DC Vicky Horn said: "The fact that this victim came forward to the police 20 years later shows a tremendous amount of courage and that it is never too late to come forward."