A FORMER teacher at a prestigious boarding school who was jailed for the abuse of a vulnerable pupil deserved every day of his term, top judges ruled yesterday.

Manipulative James Andrew Husband, 68, used his position at Christ’s Hospital School, Horsham, to groom the teenager for sex.

She was already vulnerable when he came to know her, a court heard, but acted in “gross breach of trust” to abuse her.

The crimes came to light many years later and in July this year, Husband was jailed for 17 years for rape and five indecent assaults. The married father, most recently of Wigginton Road, York, had denied the offences, claiming sex with the girl was

consensual.

Yesterday he appealed against his sentence, but was told by three senior judges that 17 years was fully deserved.

Lord Justice Lindblom told the court the girl had taken Husband’s attention as “kindness”, but ultimately came to hate what he was doing. The abuse left her with lifelong “severe psychological harm”, as she has struggled to cope with her ordeal. She did not get the university place she wanted and has been unable to form meaningful relationships with men.

In her statement to Hove Crown Court in July, the victim, now an adult, described Husband’s conduct as “devious and manipulative”.

Dismissing his appeal against the sentence, Lord Justice Lindblom said the offending had involved a “significant degree of planning”.

“This was offending against a vulnerable child, involving a serious breach of trust,” he told London’s Court of Appeal.

“He had apparently shown no insight into his offending and expressed no remorse.We accept that it was a severe sentence to pass on a man of his age and of previous good character. But we are not persuaded that it was arguably manifestly excessive.”

The appeal was dismissed.

During his trial at Hove the court heard Husband told the girl: “It’s OK, I’ve had a vasectomy,” before raping her.

Husband was the fifth Christ’s Hospital School teacher to be convicted of sexually abusing students.

Over the five cases, the sexual abuse at the school spanned more than 30 years and involved 22 victims.

Judge Christine Henson, who placed Husband on the sex offenders register for life, said the victim had given “harrowing” evidence during the trial.

The judge told him: “You put yourself in the position of her mentor in order to make her feel special and dependent on you so you could do what you wanted sexually with her. She viewed you as a father figure, thus rendering the abuse of trust particularly acute.”

In her victim impact statement read to the court, the woman said: “The grooming process was devious and malignant. By making me feel special for the first time in my life I became dependent on him for my own feeling of self worth.”

She said Husband moulded her into his “plaything” and “puppet” so “he could do what he wanted to me”.