Megan Stammers and maths teacher 'could be in Spain' A spokesman said: "SOCA contacted us and asked us to investigate if the missing schoolgirl and her teacher are in Spain. We have been asked to see if we can locate them here. We cannot say any more at this stage as it is an ongoing investigation. The French authorities have admitted that they are not actively looking for the pair, who are simply the subject of a missing persons inquiry. In France the age of consent is 15, so their relationship is not against the law. However, Jean-Philippe Joubert, state prosecutor for Boulogne-sur-Mer confirmed that if they received specific information relating to their whereabouts, they would seek to arrest him under the terms of the warrant. Despite this, he suggested that it was unlikely that the pair were still in the country. "As there are no border controls in France, they could well be in Belgium, Germany, Spain or elsewhere," he said. They are doubtless not in this area. But a European arrest warrant covers all these countries naturally. Fears have been expressed for the mental state of Forrest, an amateur musician from Ringmer, near Lewes, whom family have described as vulnerable. His father, Jim Forrest, who runs an IT business, defended his son, saying that he was not a "violent or evil" person. But he added: "We have been worried about him for some time and noticed him going further downhill for more than - let's just say - a matter of months. He'd been in a bad state for a long time. So we don't understand why the school didn't step in and do anything. We are very disappointed. Mr Forrest is due to make a televised appeal for his son to return home at 3.15pm today. It has been claimed that Sussex Police had seized Megan's mobile phone after being made aware of her relationship with Mr Forrest and had urged Bishops Bell School in Eastbourne to suspend him. Former pupils, whom he taught at a previous school, claimed that he had sent them birthday cards and treated him like his "little sisters." One said that he had gone to watch her sing at an out of school competition and encouraged her to sing songs by his favourite band, Nirvana, weeping at a farewell meal for her class.