Drama teacher, 78, at prestigious £51,000

Release time：2024-05-21 18:06:57 Source：Culture Current news portal

A former drama teacher at £51,000-a-year Winchester College, who is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a male pupil, has told a court that 'lips have a memory for kissing and you don't forget who you kiss'.

Simon Taylor, who taught at the prestigious school between 1990 and 2013, denied 'falling in love' with the boy while directing him in a production of King Lear.

Prosecutors claim the 78-year-old, who was the head of drama at the independent school, would kiss and 'awkwardly spoon' the pupil on his sofa and that he even shared a bed with the 'emotionally vulnerable' boy after his school leaving party.

But the father-of-three has told jurors he 'cared' for the former pupil and their relationship had been 'strong and appropriate'.

He added that he had never invited the 'problem boy' round for tea and that he had been assigned to offer pastoral support by the boy's housemaster.

Former drama teacher Simon Taylor, 78, pictured outside Winchester Crown Court. He is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a male pupil and has told a court that 'lips have a memory for kissing and you don't forget who you kiss'

Taylor taught English and Drama at Winchester College (pictured) between 1990 and 2013

Taylor also told the court that teachers and pupils 'naturally and frequently' formed close connections at the school, which was founded in 1382.

Giving evidence on Friday at Winchester Crown Court, Hants, Taylor, who denies two counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust, said emotions were high on the last night of his King Lear production.

'King Lear is very traumatic - probably the best tragedy ever written,' he said.

'Everyone was hugging each other.

'I was in the green room and [the pupil] came to me and hugged me.

'Clearly he needed comfort and I hugged him back and that was the end of it.'

He added: 'I never invited him to my house.

'The agreement was [the housemaster] would speak to him and say I would be available to see if he wanted, but he couldn't expect to see me automatically every time.

'As a result my eldest son would often open the door and say "sorry, Dad's out at rehearsals".

'That would be the pattern throughout the rest of the visits.

'I would never invite him, he was welcome to come anytime he felt he needed.'

Taylor said, during one of the first visits, the boy showed him where he had cut himself so he 'instinctively' took his hand to comfort him.

Taylor (pictured outside court on Monday) is accused of 'kissing and cuddling' a schoolboy in the mid 2000s

He said the boy would come to his house around once a week but eventually 'petered out' by the time the student finished at the school.

'[The headmaster and I] thought he was progressing and he did well in the end,' he said.

'He seemed to be getting on, I felt we had a strong friendship, perhaps I had helped a little bit towards his progress.'

READ MORE: Drama teacher, 78, at prestigious £51,000-a-year Winchester College appears in court accused of 'kissing and cuddling' schoolboy

He said when the boy had turned 18 they went to the pub a 'couple of times'.

'That was how the relationship - and I call it a relationship - concluded,' he said.

When asked if he had kissed the boy, he laughed and said: 'No. I think lips have a memory for kissing.

'You don't forget who you kiss - I never kissed him.'

On whether the boy had stayed the night on his last day of term, he said: 'I'm not 100 per cent certain in the end he did, but I think he probably did.

'But he certainly didn't sleep with me in my bed.'

Taylor said he was prompted to think of his former pupil when he bumped into his mother who gave him a 'death stare which stopped me in my tracks' at a London theatre in September 2019.

He told the court this prompted him to think what he thought was a 'strong and appropriate' friendship had been misconstrued.

'In these times, hugging and taking a boy's hand might well be considered inappropriate or unwelcome,' he said.

'He has described it as unwelcome but then continued to come back to me over and over again.'

Taylor messaged him in May 2021, saying he'd been 'thinking about their Winch days' and wanted to 'follow up'.

When asked about what, he said: 'Our relationship and my closeness to you. I have been worried you might be upset by it.'

He told jurors: 'Teachers and pupils would naturally and frequently form close connections.

'Mainly through academic shared interests, coaching or theatre productions.

'I have talked with colleagues about this, it's about the care you have.

'I cared for [the pupil], I liked him.

'I certainly wasn't in love with him, I had no sexual intention.'

The case is being heard at Winchester Crown Court (pictured) in Hampshire

Defending his term 'closeness', he added: 'It's not a euphemism, I meant that - I cared for him.'

He told the court he had been 'extremely concerned' about the boy's personal circumstances after hearing rumours about his family from friends and colleagues.

'I genuinely believed the fact I held his hand, hugged his shoulder, might have been the straw that broke the camel's back which he saw as one of the reasons of his psychological problems he was having,' he added.

The court heard Taylor had got the boy a book for his birthday and signed it 'with love and gratitude'.

Defending his sign off, he said: 'It's me I'm afraid.

'It's just the way I was, the way I am.

'Maybe I use the word love too much, I even used to put it on the end of academic reports.

'I apologise for the extremity of the gush, it's just me.

'I used to hug the headmaster.'

Taylor also said he had stayed in touch with a 'huge number' of his former pupils.

The trial continues.

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