Concerns about the relationship between a British teenager and her maths teacher were already being investigated before the pair apparently eloped together to France, the local authority has confirmed.
The parents of Megan Stammers (15) have appealed for her to get in contact with them after she caught a ferry to the continent last week with Jeremy Forrest (30).
It has now emerged that concerns were expressed to another teacher about their relationship, following a school trip to Los Angeles in February.
A friend from Bishop Bell Church of England School in Eastbourne, East Sussex, said that another classmate had raised the issue after seeing the pair holding hands together on the return flight.
The friend told the Daily Mail (15): “They would always text each other. . . . We are really angry the school did not do enough to protect Megan."
An East Sussex County Council spokesman said: “Because the investigations are ongoing we are not going to comment in detail, however the school and the county council had been addressing and investigating concerns that had been raised, in line with procedure, when this happened
“That investigation will continue and we will decide what action to take.”
A senior police officer has also disclosed that a message was sent to one of Megan’s friends, saying that she was in France, but did not come from her phone.
Chief inspector Jason Tingley of Sussex Police said: “I can’t say that message was from her but we believe it was. That gives us some comfort that she has arrived safely and she is in France. That’s our last contact.”
As an online campaign to find Megan continued, her stepfather Martin Stammers tweeted people to “leave the politics to Sussex Police” and to keep the focus on finding her.
Megan’s disappearance came last Thursday when she asked her mother whether she could stay overnight at a friend’s house. Her mother said that she agreed, gave her dinner money for school the following day - and Megan left.
But the following morning her mother received a text message from her school, where Mr Forrest teaches, saying she had failed to attend class.
Her family said that Megan had been receiving extra-curricular maths lessons since before the summer. But they did not suspect any relationship between her and Mr Forrest.
PA