A TEACHER posed as a teenage girl on the internet to groom a 13-year-old girl for sex.

Matthew Knott, aged 24, who was a science teacher at Elton High, Bury, was yesterday jailed for four years.

Manchester Crown Court heard Knott contacted the girl, who was not a pupil at the school, after seeing her profile on the tagged.com website.

Adrian Farrow, prosecuting, said Knott posed as a 15-year-old girl to meet his victim, whom he picked her up in his car, and took to his flat in Isaac Way, Miles Platting, Manchester, where he had sex with her.

The next morning, the girl told her parents what had happened and it was reported to the police.

Knott’s computers were seized, and traces of the conversations were found along with software used in an attempt to hide the evidence.

Knott pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to sexual activity with a child and sexually grooming a child.

He was given four years for having sex with a child, and two years for the offence of grooming, to run concurrently. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register.

Defending, John Potter said: “His behaviour has harmed others, his family, and those who had trusted him, and of course he has destroyed his career.”