Chris Higgins, 46, sent sordid messages to the 14-year-old pupil and one was seen by the victim’s dad when it flashed up on her phone from a contact saved as ‘Chris’, a court heard
A “trusted” piano teacher has been jailed for sending sexually explicit messages to a 14-year-old girl which were found by her dad.
Chris Higgins, 46, sent the ‘wholly inappropriate messages’ to one of his students and left the victim ‘a shadow of her former self’. His sordid actions were uncovered when the teenager’s dad spotted a message flash up on her phone from a contact saved as ‘Chris’ on a school night last September.
With strict rules around mobile phones, he checked the device – and was horrified by what he found. The court heard Higgins, a trusted teacher from Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, had been sending sexually explicit and inappropriate messages to the schoolgirl.
He saw his daughter had deleted messages from the chat, so only messages from the previous 24 hours were displaying, while there were also a number of disappearing messages which had been sent. When he checked the number for Chris in his daughter’s phone for the number he had for Higgins, he realised they were one in the same.
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In one message, Higgins referred to conversations from the night before and admitted he had ‘pushed her too far’. The girl’s father filmed the messages as evidence and her mum contacted police the next day.
Officers arrested Higgins and seized his phone, uncovering further disturbing messages – including references to taking the child to a hotel in London. Higgins, of Sanderling Drive, pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual communication with a child.
He was sentenced at Lancaster Magistrates Court on January 29 to 10 months immediate custody. A Sexual Harm Prevention Order was also put in place for 10 years, meaning Higgins’ activities will continue to be monitored after he has been released from prison, reported LancsLive.
In a devastating impact statement to the court, the victim said: “I didn’t want to go to school, I thought people would be judging me even though no one knew what happened. I wanted to stay in bed all day. I was getting sanctions from school and it would mainly be from my male teachers. My attendance got bad.
“I was a good kid. Didn’t get into trouble, I got on with everybody. After it, Miss said she could see a change in my behaviour. I didn’t want to tell my friends what happened, so I lost a lot of friends. I wouldn’t want to be friends with someone who was sad all the time.
“Not going to school affected my grades. I’m below on everything, when before, I was on target or overachieving. I didn’t want to play piano. When I sat at the piano, I thought of him and I didn’t like the feeling. I’ve been playing since I was nine. I still don’t play piano now.”
The victim’s parents wrote: “The most profound impact of this offence stems from the fact that the defendant was a trusted, well-known member of our community. This betrayal has left our family with a deep-seated mistrust of others and a constant state of anxiety.
“We are in a persistent state of worry whenever our children are not directly with us. It has been heartbreaking to witness the transformation of our daughter. She was once a confident, outgoing, and stage-loving child; she has now become a shadow of her former self. The emotional toll is evident in several ways.”
DC Stacey Billington, from the Blackpool Child Protection Team, said: “Chris Higgins abused his position of trust in order to send sexually explicit messages and wholly inappropriate messages to one of his students. He did this for his own sexual gratification.
“His sordid actions have clearly had a profound impact on his victim and her family. I want to praise them for the strength and patience they have shown in this investigation.
“Hopefully this case will highlight the importance of being tuned in to who your children are messaging on their phones, or viewing online. It was thanks to the diligence and responsible parenting displayed by the victim’s parents that stopped Higgins in his tracks and prevented any further potential offences being committed.”
