A TALENTED musician and teacher has been jailed after using a pupil to realise his sexual fantasies at a leading private school.

Married Dara De-Cogan, of Kilburn, near Thirsk, constantly engaged in sex acts with a pupil at Ampleforth College throughout her sixth-form years, including in class time, after grooming her during her first years at the school, which charges boarders £33,390-a-year.

Dan Cordey, prosecuting, said the former senior Halle Orchestra member and head of strings at the Roman Catholic school befriended the girl after she became a boarder there and acted as a surrogate father.

The incidents happened on and off the school premises and included tying her up with rope.

In a victim impact statement, the victim, now a woman, said the abuse had wrecked her ability to trust others. The fact it took place in a Catholic institution and that De-Cogan, 58, told her she would “throw him into hell” if she left him, had shaken her faith.

De-Cogan pleaded guilty to ten charges of engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust and was jailed for 28 months at York Crown Court. He was also put on the sex offenders’ register for ten years and banned from contacting the girl.

Rod Hunt, mitigating, said: “This was one infatuation. When the temptation came his way he was no longer strong enough to resist it.”

Judge Andrew Stubbs QC told Dara De-Cogan, 58: “You used her to satisfy your sexual desires and to act out your own sexual fantasies. It was an abject failure of the trust her parents had placed in Ampleforth College and more particularly in you.”

An NSPCC spokesman said: “De Cogan used a position of trust for his own gratification and those he abused have shown incredible courage in coming forward and speaking out. We hope his victims can begin to move forward with their lives.”