My old headteacher has been convicted of sexual offences

Concerns about Neil Foden’s behaviour were raised years ago. We need to understand how such abuse is enabled

There was a moment during the trial of my former headteacher that broke my heart when I read about it. Child E was giving evidence of how Neil Foden would take her on trips to Liverpool, pulling over in country lanes on the way back so that he could have sex with her. When the defence suggested that the purpose of these detours was so that he could recce new routes for country walks, she laughed.

Why did reading about the laugh get to me so much? I think it was because it implied a tragic worldliness. The loss of childhood innocence. Children should not be laughing, seemingly bitterly and cynically, about the sexual proclivities of adult men.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist