September 2001 Teacher jailed after fleeing with pupil A 34-year-old maths teacher has been jailed for 18 months after he went on the run with a 15-year-old former pupil. Paul Tramontini was described by the judge at Portsmouth Crown Court as “every parents’ nightmare”. Judge David Selwood told him: “You were in a position of trust and also in a position of power and this offence represents a gross breach of that trust.” The court was told that Tramontini formed a relationship with a pupil at Mayfield Secondary School, in Portsmouth. He was said to have proposed to her when she was just 14 and brought her an engagement ring. In April last year the pair fled the country. The girl’s parents received a letter from her with a Rome postmark, saying she intended to marry Tramontini. But in June this year she returned to Britain. Tramontini eventually gave himself up to police. At an earlier hearing he admitted a charge of abduction and perverting the course of justice. The judge told him the relationship should “not have been allowed to develop”. He said: “You were the adult, you were the person in the driving seat and a person in your position would be seen by all parents everywhere as someone who should have taken the lead in a different direction. “The public will expect a degree of deterrent in the sentence today because you, and whatever you say, are every parent’s nightmare if you think about it.”