Jess Anderson's parents were left devastated when she moved in with Clive Richards, a father of two who has been married three times.

When her mother managed to contact her by phone that evening, she was told to check her emails - and found a message about the new arrangement.

Jess and Richards are living in the same village as her family in a rented cottage they share with the teacher's 14-year-old son.

Her mother Frances Hichens and stepfather Phil, 50, said they were "living a nightmare".

"This has come completely out of the blue," said Mrs Hichens, a 38-year-old hospital ward clerk who has not spoken to her daughter since.

"We are going out of our minds with worry, and they are living just half a mile away.

"It is like grieving, only worse, because there is no end in sight."

Mrs Hichens, a mother of two, has been told by police that she has no legal right to stop her daughter living with Richards.

At 16, Jess can decide where she lives.

While it is an offence for an adult in a position of trust to have sex with an under-18 in his charge, this cannot apply to Richards as he left the school last April.

Richards's third wife left their £500-a-month rented home in Goldsithney, near Penzance, Cornwall, three days before Jess moved in last month.

Julia Richards, a 38-year-old teaching assistant, took one of her two sons with her, but the other boy chose to stay.

She refuses to comment on the situation for fear of upsetting her children, but a close friend said: "What Clive has done is utterly morally wrong.

"To think he was teaching children about ethics makes it all the more shocking.

"He was in a position of trust and he has abused that trust.

"Julia is in a terrible situation."

Mrs Hichens and her property developer husband say the relationship has torn their family apart.

Fighting back tears, Mrs Hichens said: "Jessica has never been any trouble.

"People always said we had it easy as parents because she was so polite and well-behaved.

"I know 16-year-old girls want to be grown-up and sophisticated but this is not the answer.

"I love her so much - we all do. We just want her back."

Richards, who has taught in schools across the country, refused to comment except to say: "We have done nothing wrong."

After leaving the school he began preliminary training to become a vicar at a local parish.

But this ended after some churchgoers became concerned about his behaviour.

He and Jess are believed to be living on income support and child benefits.

Despite the misery caused by their relationship the pair have apparently signed up as "agony aunt and uncle", advising other couples, on an internet site partly dedicated to "age-gap relationships".

According to a source close to her family, Jess sent emails to her parents and other relatives insisting she has not been "brainwashed or groomed".

But her father, Steven Anderson, said: "The whole thing beggars belief. I have never seen this man and if I did I don't know how I'd react."

A family friend said: "This man is an adult with a family and should have walked away from this.

"It is going to have a massive effect on Jess - not just now, but when she is an adult too.

"She thinks she is living out a fantasy but it will only end in tears."