Educating Yorkshire headteacher, 53, hits back after being labelled ‘paedophile’ for dating younger woman
Jonny Mitchell and his 25-year-old girlfriend said they have been relentlessly targeted by online trolls over their age gap
A former headteacher who appeared on Educating Yorkshire has hit back at people branding him a 'paedophile' for dating a young woman.
Jonny Mitchell was at the forefront of the hit Channel 4 show when it first arrived on our TV screens back in 2013, but left Thornhill Community Academy behind two years later.
Stints as headmaster at other schools followed, but these days, he's semi-retired - and it's his extracurricular activities which are hitting the headlines.
When viewers were first introduced to Mitchell, he was a married father-of-three, but he's now in a relationship with another woman who is 28 years his junior.
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The 53-year-old has been dating Abi McMahon, 25, for the last four years following on from his split with his former wife Lisa in 2014.
Mitchell met the ex-police officer who is now an online content creator in a bar in Leeds in September 2021.
McMahon - who insists she was unaware of her fella's Educating Yorkshire fame at the time - accidentally swilled him with her cocktail and the pair ended up chatting.
"We took it very gradually, not rushing into anything but we slowly fell in love," Mitchell told The Sun of their relationship - but 'keyboard warriors' don't see things that way.
The former headteacher and TV star said he has been bombarded with abuse from online trolls about dating a woman who is just a few years older than his three children.
"I’ve been branded a paedophile, a groomer, a dirty old man and far worse," Mitchell said.
"It’s par for the course for people who hide behind computer screens and keyboards, and it makes me feel pessimistic about how society is panning out.
"I never thought I’d fall in love again - let alone with a woman so much younger than me. But you can’t legislate who you meet."
The couple - who live together in a rented stone cottage in Huddersfield - also took the opportunity to clear up rumours that the headteacher was unfaithful to his wife and that he 'taught' his now-girlfriend.
McMahon would have been in Year 9 at the time when her now-partner was earning fans on the telly and fulfilling the role of headteacher at Thornhill Community Academy in Dewsbury.
"The marriage was simply not working," Mitchell said of his former union. "There was no third party involved - and definitely not Abi as some have accused.
"Neither did I teach her, she grew up over 60 miles away from Dewsbury."
McMahon says she hasn't been able to escape the wrath of online critics either, explaining she's been dubbed a 'gold digger' and 'an embarrassment', among other brutal labels.
Explaining how she deals with trolls, she said: "People will think I must have daddy issues - I definitely don’t.
"I want people to simply not judge others not so quickly. I tend to answer them and that usually shuts them up!"
She and Mitchell recently shared a TikTok video addressing some of the main questions, which people have about their age gap relationship.
If you're more interested in the Channel 4 series than the private lives of former members of teaching personnel, you can watch new episodes of Educating Yorkshire on Sundays at 8pm.
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Channel 4, UK News, TV
Olivia Burke