Shamed teacher Jeremy Forrest pulls out of festival performance he attempts to kickstart rocker career
The 33-year-old served two years and nine months of a five-and-a-half year sentence for running to France with a 15-year-old pupil
PAEDO teacher Jeremy Forrest has pulled out of a festival performance this evening at the last minute due to "personal reasons".
The convicted sex offender, who fled to France with a 15-year-old pupil in 2012, planned to take the stage at Red Roar festival in Gravesend under the stage name Jeremy Ayre.
Tonight's gig kicked off at 5.30pm, with Forrest due to take the stage soon after in a bid to wow crowds with his newfound rockstar persona.
Forrest disappointed organisers and punters by cancelling at the last minute.
Adam Fillary, the festival organiser said: "I spoke to him earlier today and he said he just wasn't ready.
"We've had so many bands pull out that I just done ask anymore but, broadly, it was for personal reasons.
"This is a music environment and I didn't want his past to affect what he does here.
"We want him to feel comfortable. How does someone integrate into society after something like that?
"Do you think the O2 vets everyone they put on?
"But I spoke to him today, and I just said, 'look, if you're not comfortable playing, you don't have to play'.
"I do have this thing about not putting bands on again if they pull out at the last minute - we've had 70 pull out of this - so I'm not sure what will happen next time.
"But with Jeremy, I've put him on probably 20 times in the past. To read the headlines about him was a bit of a shock.
"That's just not the guy I knew. Everyone makes mistakes and it's just a case of dealing with that. The sooner he integrates the better."
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The festival's website says 'Jeremy Ayre' is "back from a hiatus".
Punters expressed their surprise that the punk-paedo was lined up to play at the Red Roar Festival.
A fellow musician, who declined to be named, said: "I've heard the story, but I didn't know he was planning on playing tonight.
"I've never met him or heard him play."
A Facebook fan club set up about Forrest's alias Jeremy Ayre has only raked in a measly 174 likes.
A soundcloud profile for the pervert's music lists seven songs and has 76 followers.
Married Forrest seduced the 15-year-old after they began flirting on Twitter following a school trip to the United States.
CCTV footage emerged of the pair boarding a ferry from Dover to Calais as an international manhunt took place – which resulted in their discovery in Bordeaux, south-west France, eight days later.
Incredibly, the young girl’s mother told Lewes Crown Court that a few weeks bef0re the abduction, Forrest had called her in an attempt to quash rumours they were involved in a relationship – as he didn’t want them to “damage his career”.
The convicted sex offender has since bagged himself a new girlfriend and has been dating Cassie McGeough, 29, for four months.
Forrest's schoolgirl victim banned the pervert from contacting her after his release from prison last year.
He risks being sent back to prison if he tries to get in contact with the youngster, who is "moving on with her life".
When Forrest left HMP Channings Wood in Devon, he is understood to have been handed a stack of 20 letters, emails and cards from the girl.
Forrest was jailed for five-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to five counts of sexual activity with a child.
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