A schoolgirl who fled to France with her maths teacher has found a new boyfriend.

Jeremy Forrest, 31, ran away to France with the schoolgirl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, when she was 15 leading to an international manhunt.

But despite saying she wanted to marry her teacher she has now made the decision see a boy her own age. Forrest, 31, who is serving a five-and-ahalf year prison sentence for child abduction and child sex offences, is said to be upset by the news.

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A friend of Forrest said: “From what I understand there’s a boy she’s been seeing but it’s not gone very far.

“They are banned from communicating so to say she dumped him is not true.

“You can’t dump someone who you can’t communicate with.

“He’s always said that if she wants to move on with her life then that’s what should happen.

“But of course he’s upset about it.”

The teenager wrote to Forrest’s parents to declare her love for their son and said she planned to visit him in prison after he was jailed in April. She also wrote to the governors of Lewes prison to ask for permission to visit him but her requests were rejected.

A spokeswoman for East Sussex County Council said the ban would be “kept under review”.

In June it was revealed Forrest planned to marry the schoolgirl and her father told newspapers he would be “proud” to walk her down the aisle. The girl’s commitment to stand by Forrest through his prison sentence led to a rift within her family. Her mother described the ordeal as her “worst nightmare” outside court after the case was heard in June.

Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Portia Ragnouth said: “Not only did he breach the trust and confidence that all the parents at that school had placed in him, he also brought disgrace to his profession who are trusted to look after the children in their care. “Nothing detracts from the fact that this was an abduction.”