South London school worker who abused position to groom teenager jailed

Michael Commettant groomed teenager in ‘utterly disgraceful abuse of trust’
Jailed: Michael Commettant
Met Police
Josh Salisbury24 April 2024
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A south London school support worker who groomed a teenage girl has been jailed for eighteen months.

Michael Commettant, 27, was working as a learning behaviour mentor at a south London school when he was arrested for his offences on May 17 last year.

Detectives had circulated him as wanted after the school reported concerns about his behaviour.

On Wednesday, he was jailed at Woolwich Crown Court after previously admitting sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity by a person in a position of trust.

The court heard how Commettant had abused his position to groom the victim, communicating with her by a secret email account, Scotland Yard said in a statement.

He called the victim multiple times from a withheld number, breaching the safeguarding practises he had agreed to follow in his role at the school.

During interview, he stayed silent and instead gave a prepared statement, in which he denied he had ever forced the girl to commit any sexual acts.

Met Detective Constable Isa Hemphrey, who led the investigation, said Commettant had committed an “utterly disgraceful abuse of trust.”

“This individual was entrusted to support children and instead of honouring this vital role, he chose to ignore all professional boundaries and enter into a wholly inappropriate sexual relationship with a teenager,” said DC Hemphrey.

“His conduct was appalling and he quite rightly will never be able to work with children again.

“I am grateful to my team and to all my colleagues who worked tirelessly and professionally to give this case the time and energy it deserved. 

“I hope that this result helps the victim and her family in their journey to recover and move on from this experience.

“Most of all, I hope that this case will encourage anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation to the victim to have the confidence to speak to police and know that they have a voice.”

Upon release, Commettant, of St Lawrence Way, Lambeth, will be placed on the sex offenders register for ten years.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in