A perverted teacher bombarded a young girl with sick messages, telling her "I always used to wonder what kind of underwear you had on".
John Wickham, also known as John Lanason, 38, tracked down his former pupil on Snapchat after leaving his job as a maths teacher at St John Plessington Catholic Secondary School in Bebington in 2021. The conversation quickly turned sexual, and the girl reported what was happening to her mum, who continued to exchange messages with Wickham before calling the police.
The victim's mum told The ECHO: "At first I didn't believe it. I thought it was her friends messing around - a schoolteacher wouldn't do that. Then he sent a photograph of his face to confirm it was him. I took my daughter's phone and I let him believe it was her he was talking to. Disgusting things, asking her what bra size she took, that he'd love to take her to bed, lay her down naked. He wanted her to send videos; sick, perverse ones as you can imagine."
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Wickham, of Cearns Road, Oxton, sent a number of graphic messages describing his sexual fantasies about his former pupil, telling her he wanted to "lay [her] down naked on [his] bed and kiss [her] all over", and "give [her her] first orgasm".
He wrote: "I loved all the stuff you used to say to me and I always used to wish we could be properly alone so I could tell you how beautiful and sexy you are".
He also urged the young girl to keep his messages a secret, telling her: "According to the law I am a pedo. If anyone saw this conversation my life would be ruined."
The girl's mum said: "It was vile. My heart was racing. It was absolutely disgusting, especially considering he's not your average weirdo in the street. He's a person who used his position for his own sexual gratification, and the fact that he was working with kids sent my stomach in knots. He was abusing the power of trust.
"My daughter always thought of him like a friend. She'd come home every day saying he was so funny, so kind. He made her believe they were best friends. I just thought he was a nice teacher who had a good relationship with the children. He had us all fooled."
Wickham appeared at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday, April 4, after pleading guilty to sexual communication with a child, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison.
In a victim statement read in court, the girl's mum said: "John Wickham is a manipulating, calculated paedophile, who has since changed his name from Wickham to Lanason, who used his professional position for his own sick sexual gratification.
"He is a predator. He groomed [my daughter] then with his sick urges and desires he searched and then pounced via social media. John Wickham’s actions have blackend [her] childhood and she will carry this through to late adult life. [She] is struggling with every aspect of her life. She is now a damaged, confused, upset, anxious child."
She said her daughter's mental health had been seriously affected by the incident, and that she needed counselling after wanting to end her own life.
"My heart breaks every time I watch her walk into her counselling sessions. I should be watching her go out with friends. Every teary question she asks me about the police and court process makes me feel internally sick," she said.
"Luckily [we] have a good relationship and she told me of his messages, which allowed me to intervene. However, if [she] hadn't and Wickham had gone further with his desires, as set out in his messages, as to what he intended to do, I know she would not be here today and that gives me nightmares.
"John Wickham has left me with an emotion that I have never felt and that is hate, and I hate him for that. No child is safe on the streets whilst this sick individual is walking them. He used his power as a professional person to sexually abuse my daughter."
Senior crown prosecutor Matthew Lacey, a specialist prosecutor in CPS Mersey Cheshire’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) unit, said: “John Wickham is a manipulative sexual predator who exploited his position of trust as a teacher to gratify his warped sexual desires.
“His overtly sexual online chat and behaviour towards this child has deeply affected her mental and physical health. She has gone from being a bright, lively, happy girl who loved school to a withdrawn, anxious, introvert who is frightened by most activities now, including those that she used to love.
“Wickham thought nothing of the effect of what he was doing on his victim and probably convinced himself that she was a willing participant. She wasn’t. She was and is a child, dragged into an adult world that she didn’t understand. The CPS hopes that the successful prosecution of Wickham helps with her recovery from this trauma.”
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