Children’s charities criticised the “lenient” prison term given yesterday to a teacher who had a homosexual relationship with one of his pupils.

David Le Brocq, 30, was sentenced to one year in prison after being found guilty of conducting a six-month sexual affair with his pupil, Karl Donaldson, which began when the boy was 15.

The pair began having full sex in Le Brocq’s flat when Mr Donaldson, who is now 19, reached his 16th birthday, with the full approval of Mr Donaldson’s mother, Donna Stacey.

But the sentence given at Oxford Crown Court to the drama teacher, described by Ofsted inspectors as “inspirational and magical”, was described as unduly lenient.

Michele Elliott, the director of the children’s charity Kidscape, said: “It does not matter if it was consensual: the point is that when you are a teacher you are in a position of authority over a pupil and you do not have sexual relationships with them.

“Given that he could be out in six months it seems to me that he has got off very lightly.”

Other similar cases that resulted in longer sentences include that of Elvira Fairhurst, 49, who in June last year was jailed for more than four years after conducting a four-month affair with a 14-year-old pupil.

After the verdict Mr Donaldson, who has lifted his right to anonymity, told the Reading Evening Post that he held no grudges towards his former teacher.

The teenager, who lives in Reading, said: “I have not been in touch with him since we broke up and just want to forget about what happened and get on with the next chapter in my life.”

During the trial jurors heard that the pupil passed the teacher his mobile phone number while they were at Thamesbridge College, formerly Ashmead School, in Reading.

After drinking one evening Le Brocq phoned the boy and declared his love for him. From February 2004 the two began meeting regularly at weekends and during school holidays at the teacher’s flat in Christchurch, Dorset, where they had sexual relations. Full sex took place only after the boy turned 16.

The relationship ended in August 2004 when the teacher told Mr Donaldson that he was going to have a child with a colleague at the school.

Police were informed about the relationship after Mr Donaldson’s sister mentioned it to a teacher at the school. Le Brocq, who had been nominated for a Teacher of the Year award by his peers, was arrested in September 2005, by which time he was deputy head teacher at Bovington Middle School in Wareham, Dorset.

Jurors were told that Le Brocq regularly visited Mr Donaldson’s family home as his boyfriend.

Alan Blake, for the prosecution, told jurors: “He loved David Le Brocq and his mother wanted him to be happy. The evidence is that there was a mutual infatuation between them.

“David Le Brocq exercised some restraint in not allowing matters to progress too far physically before the boy’s 16th birthday.”

Le Brocq, who now lives in West End, near Southampton, was convicted at a retrial in May of five counts of engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust, including two when Mr Donaldson was 15.

Judge Anthony King said yesterday: “It is perfectly apparent that the boy was already a person who was attracted to you. Indeed, much that occurred was at his instigation. Sadly, though, this case is a classic example of a substantial and serious breach of trust.”

Breaches of trust

Elvira Fairhurst, 49, a mother of two, was jailed for four years and three months in June last year after conducting a four-month affair with a 14-year-old pupil

Cfyn Markwick-Day, 46, a science teacher, was jailed for two years in December 2005 after being convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old girl at his school

Steven Edwards, 34, was jailed for four years and nine months in February after being found guilty of eight charges of abuse of trust through sexual activity with three girls aged 14 to 16

Stephen Brenchley, 48, was jailed for five years and three months last August after being found guilty of sexually abusing two pupils

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