Pupil who says she was groomed by paedophile head in fight for compensation

Image source, North Wales Police Image caption, Neil Foden was jailed for 17 years for a string of sexual abuse offences By Elen Wyn Newyddion S4C Published 1 hour ago A former pupil says she suffers nightmares and flashbacks after claiming she was groomed by former headteacher Neil Foden. Meg, not her real name, said the convicted paedophile groomed her in 2023 when she was 14 and a pupil at Ysgol Friars in Bangor, Gwynedd. He did not physically or sexually assault her, she said, but the impact of his behaviour continues to affect her. She said she now has to prove the effect his alleged grooming has had on her after insurers acting on behalf of Cyngor Gwynedd invited her to withdraw a compensation claim to help cover the cost of therapy. The council said all compensation cases relating to Foden remained under consideration. The letter from Cyngor Gwynedd's insurers, seen by Newyddion S4C , external , said there was no suggestion that Foden touched her and states "no legal liability" in relation to her proposed claim. Foden was jailed for 17 years in 2024 for a series of sexual offences against young girls. Meg, now 17, believes she is the "new girl" referred to in an independent Child Practice Review, a report examining safeguarding failures linked to Neil Foden's offending, published in November 2025 . She said she was groomed by Foden during a series of unofficial one-to-one "therapy sessions" in his office. Timeline of Foden's offending In 2023, Meg was struggling at school, and, after discussing her difficulties with her parents, Foden offered to provide one-to-one support. When she learned about the arrangement, Meg said she was shocked. She said: "I felt I was in a position where I couldn't say no." Meg said Foden told her not to tell her parents about the meetings, while also asking her parents not to discuss the arrangement with her. She believes this prevented them as a family from openly talking about what was happening. She attended 17 "support" sessions on her own with Foden, and said she started opening up to him because she felt like she could "trust him". "I remember him asking me if I was scared of him, and I answered 'yes'. I think that confirmed to him that he had authority and power over me," she said. She said that she felt "special" at the time and she "wanted someone to be there all the time". "I think he saw that and took advantage of it," she said. "After a while, I noticed him looking me up and down. "Grooming is not just touching, it controls your mind. He was controlling my mind. He was playing a game." Concerns not reported Meg's sessions with Foden continued around the same time concerns about his behaviour were being discussed by senior school staff, according to the Child Practice Review. The report, published in November 2025, identified over 50 missed opportunities to stop the headteacher, with Meg's experience among the cases looked at by the review. While many of the failings identified by reviewers related to