School support worker jailed for abusing position to groom teen girl

A former school support worker has been jailed for sex offences.

Michael Commettant was working as a learning behaviour mentor at a school in South London but was arrested after he was circulated as wanted by detectives.

Police were looking for him after the school reported concerns about his behaviour and on Wednesday, May 17 last year, a day after being reported to police, Commettant, 27, was arrested and interviewed.

Two days after his arrest, he was charged with 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.

Officers discovered he had struck up a sexual relationship with a teenage girl, who they took immediate action to safeguard.

After being charged, a search was carried out at his home, and his digital devices were seized and examined. The team was able to determine that he had communicated with the victim via a secret email account, and had tried to hide messages sent by him, to her.

However, detectives were able to very quickly build a picture of his offending and discovered how he had groomed the teenager by examining phone records.

These proved he had called the victim multiple times from a withheld number, meaning he had broken the safeguarding practices he had agreed to follow in his role at the school.

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

In September 2023, he pleaded guilty to all charges and on Wednesday last week, at Woolwich Crown Court, he was jailed for 18 months.

Detective Constable Isa Hemphrey, who led the investigation and supported the victim and her family during the court process, said: “I am very pleased with the decision of the court to jail this man, who 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.

“His conduct was appalling and he quite rightly will never be able to work with children again. 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 on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Pictured top: Michael Commettant (Picture: The Met)