PE teacher charged with rape of pupil

PE teacher charged with rape of pupil

THE head of PE at a Catholic school asked a female student to perform an oral sex act on him before raping her, a court has heard.

A jury at Birmingham Crown Court was told that Matthew Fludgate, 34, from Stourport-on-Severn, convinced the then 18-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to go back to his hotel room with him after a leavers’ party.

The girl, who is now 19, said she had been drinking heavily for much of the evening, and could not remember going to the popular Walkabout bar in Birmingham city centre.

She said that she had exited the club at around 3 am on May 29th, when Mr Fludgate told her that all her friends had already left.

She had been attending a leaving party for students at St Edmund Campion School, Erdington.

The party had started at Old Orleans restaurant in the city centre, before moving to the Australian-themed Walkabout bar afterwards.

The girl had told the court at yesterday’s hearing that she had been ‘very drunk’ for much of the evening.

Choking back tears as she gave evidence from behind a blue screen, the girl said she had told the teacher that she would make her way home in a taxi, but that Mr Fludgate had convinced her that it would not be safe.

She said: “I just remember him saying my friends had gone and left me, and the safest option would be to go with him.

“He asked me if I wanted to go to a hotel, I said ‘no I’ll get in a taxi’.

“He said ‘no, you can’t go in a taxi on your own, all your friends have gone. The safest option is to come with me and I will put you in a taxi.”

After leaving the Walkabout, the girl said that the pair made their way to a nearby hotel, where the teacher was staying due to his home in Stourport being far away.

She claimed that, after entering the room, she sat on the bed before Mr Fludgate asked ‘will you give me head?’ but she refused.

Fludgate then asked the girl if she would have sex with him, and she refused because she was on her period.

Despite this, she alleged that Fludgate told her: “It will be alright, I’ve had sex with girls on their period before.”

After that, the girl said that Fludgate removed her underwear before performing an oral sex act on her.

She said that, after several requests to stop performing oral sex, he did, before moving on to have penetrative sex with her against her will.

The morning after, the girl said that Fludgate had told her not to tell anyone what had happened and that they were both at fault.

She said: “He made out that we were both in the wrong and that it was wrong that it had happened and he said to keep it to myself and not tell anyone.

“And if it got out, to say that he had put me in a taxi at the end of the night.

“He said we had both crossed the line.”

The girl told the court that she had told her friend what had happened the morning after, and eventually told her headteacher what had happened after initially keeping quiet.

Defending, Tarlow Dubb put it to the girl that she had been pressured by her friends into making a rape allegation.

He said: “This allegation has been brought about by your friends, who were not in that hotel room, and that you and them have got your heads together and pressured you to say that what happened in that room was rape.

He added: “You have created this story to explain to your friends where you slept the night…and perhaps to explain to the teachers or your mum and dad.”

The girl admitted that she had felt “embarrassed” and “scared” but denied fabricating the allegation.

Mr Dubb also mentioned that rumours at the school had linked the complainant with a different PE teacher the previous year, after another leavers’ party which ended at the same branch of Walkabout.

It was claimed that the girl kissed the teacher.

She denied this, but the rumours  resulted in meetings with social workers and the police.

As well as a charge of rape, Fludgate also faces a serious sexual offence charge and a charge of a sexual assault against another pupil.

The trial continues.

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