THE sexual abuse of a young girl who delevoped a crush on him landed music teacher and special constable Neil Ellis an 18-month jail sentence at Truro Crown Court last week. Judge Nicholas Vincent also barred him from working again with children, extended by three years the period on which he will be on licence, and ordered him to register as a sex offender for ten years. Ellis, who at the time of his arrest was living at Harrowbarrow, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to eight charges involving indecency during a two-year period. Prosecutor Iain Leadbetter told the court Ellis first met the girl when she was at primary school. She became besotted with him and they began to exchange text messages when she was fourteen. He started kissing and fondling her. Defence solicitor Pamela Calder stressed that Ellis was not a man who pursued young girls to gratify himself. He did not have full sex with the girl until she was 17. ?The girl had a crush on him and he was flattered by it,? she said. His arrest last May had devastated Ellis, his family and friends. He would never be able to teach again and would have to find another career. Pointing out that there was a ?vast amount of mitigation? Miss Calder asked the judge to impose a community rehabilitation order so that Ellis could receive help. But Judge Vincent said it was apparent the girl had a crush on him and he had exploited her vulnerability. ?You were in a position of trust which you grossly breached. And you held a status within the community as a special constable which means you breached that trust in another way,? he said.
