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A teacher who repeatedly had sex with a pupil has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison.

Ieuan Bartlett, 29, of Whitchurch, Cardiff, admitted 12 counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.

Having originally denied the charges, he changed his pleas after a jury failed to reach a verdict, which would have left him facing a retrial.

Judge Lucy Crowther told Bartlett he had manipulated and “specifically targeted a particularly vulnerable child”.

Cardiff Crown Court heard Bartlett pressured the girl into sending him indecent pictures of herself when she did not want to.

The girl told the court that she “thought it would be love and we would be together”, but now “I realised how much he controlled and belittled me”.

The court heard how the girl originally turned to Bartlett for support, but that over several months he groomed her, gaining her trust and confidence.

During later meetings Bartlett talked to the girl about sex, pressuring her into sexual activity with him.

The judge said she “ended up performing sex acts on you, which was precisely what you had paved the way for”, adding “you’d be angry if she said no”.

Subsequently, Bartlett had sex with the girl without a condom. The court heard they had sex on a number of occasions, including one time at the girl’s home when her parents were away.

Bartlett used a side entrance to the house to avoid being seen by the doorbell camera.

He told her not to tell anyone about what was happening because he said she could be sent to prison. He also lied about aspects of his personal life in order to win her trust.

His actions were discovered when one of the girl's friends noticed his messages on her phone. She told her mother, resulting in the police being called.

In a personal impact statement the girl told the court that her confidence had been knocked and that she struggled because she “believed all men were like Ieuan”.

“I’ve always had issues with my mental health and now it’s worse. I struggle to trust people and believe what they say,” she said.

Bartlett was jailed for a total of 13 offences, including one count of possession of indecent images of a 16-year-old.

He was ordered to be on the sex offender register for life and given a restraining order to prevent him from contacting the girl.