A DISGRACED school teacher convicted of abducting a 14-year-old schoolgirl says it was all an innocent mistake.

Darren Carvill, from Aylesford, near Maidstone, left the school where he taught in Essex at the end of the summer term 2004 after being reprimanded for his friendship with a teenage pupil.

The 25-year-old believed he had been given a second chance when he got a job at Bennett Memorial School in Tunbridge Wells.

And he was looking forward to a fresh start after agreeing to have no further contact with his former “friend”.

But four months later his life fell apart when a police investigation led to him being accused of abducting and sexual offences against the teenager.

Sitting in his front room in Trewin Close, Aylesford, Mr Carvill, recalled the relationship that would lead to his conviction for child abduction at Chelmsford Crown Court.

He was cleared of two charges of engaging in sexual activity with a child.

He said things began with the teenager coming to him for help with personal problems, and led to the pair making trips to a skating rink and public park.

He said: “I didn’t realise if you didn’t get permission it was classed as abduction. We were friends and there was nothing sexual. I admit I made a huge mistake, but she did agree to come with me.

“What I did is wrong but it’s not like I dragged someone under false will into my car and kept them locked up – which is what abduction sounds like.”

But things could have become far more serious if claims he had attempted to kiss and touch the schoolgirl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had been proven.

He said: “The possibility of going to jail is a hard thing to contemplate, especially if you might be going to jail for a sexual crime against a child – you’d be treated as scum.”

Mr Carvill, who grew up in Sevenoaks and attended Wildernesse School in the town, was suspended from his position in Tunbridge Wells and has now been sacked. He believes that his teaching career is over.

Mr Carvill will be sentenced on February 16, and says the pressure of the trial has regularly driven him to drink. “You can’t sleep and you can’t think of anything else."

Mr Carvill was suspended from school just hours after the 14-year-old girl accused him of sexual assault.

Carvill had no criminal background and sailed through the required police checks when he was given a job at Bennett Memorial School in September 2004.

Two months later a pupil at his former school, in Essex, walked into a police station and claimed he had groomed her and touched her indecently.

Mr Carvill was convicted of abducting the girl but cleared of sexual assault.

But in a month when the Government has faced fierce criticism for allowing sex offenders to work in schools, the case has highlighted the difficulty local authorities face when employing people in positions of trust.

There was no clue in Mr Carvill’s background about the potential risk posed by his actions.

Kent County Council and Bennett school reacted quickly to avert any potential risk. Within hours of the girl making her allegations, the school had been informed of the situation.

Head teacher Ian Bauckham said: “After an enhanced CRB check, which came back clear, Mr Carvill began work at the school in September 2004.

“Two months later I was contacted by Essex police with regards to an allegation made that day and I immediately suspended Mr Carvill. He is no longer employed by the school.”