August 2023 Disgraced PE teacher had sex with former pupil and told her to lie about her age A disgraced PE teacher who had sex with a former pupil has been jailed. Steven Laverty was banned from teaching 10 years ago after his wrongdoing first came to light. But he has only now faced justice over his sickening sexual activity with the girl, whose life was said to have been “destroyed” by the abuse of trust. A trial at Liverpool Crown Court previously heard that the now 48-year-old had sex with the ex-student during the noughties after she had left the school where he taught, but while she was still under age of 16. Laverty falsely claimed that she had been aged 16 at the time Martine Snowdon, prosecuting, described how the teenager was left self-harming and feeling “isolated” as a result of his offending. She was also said to have been left under a “dark shadow which she feels has destroyed her life”. Laverty, of Stuart Road in Walton, was previously banned from the profession after he was found to have “showed a failure to observe proper boundaries in relation to his professional position” in a “clear abuse of trust”. But he did not face prosecution at this time as he had instructed his victim to tell investigators that she was 16 when they had sex. This was despite a panel having found that the dad-of-two had also “grabbed a 14-year-old boy in the groin” during a PE lesson. Laverty then took a temporary job as an arts teacher at a school in Greater Manchester, where “he pushed a 12-year-old pupil out of a classroom and pulled another across a floor”. Laverty was found guilty of one count of sexual activity with a child by a jury. He was locked up for three years on Thursday and told to sign the sex offenders’ register for life. Sentencing, Judge Louise Brandon said: “You knew she had been your pupil. The jury were sure you did not reasonably believe she was 16. “The fact you find yourself in this situation after all these years is entirely of your own making. It is clear she has been deeply traumatised by what happened to her. “I cannot conclude that you are genuinely fully remorseful. The only remorse you have is for the situation you find yourself in now.”