Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Neil Shaw

Teacher guilty of having sex with boy, 15

A teacher has been found guilty of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Married Kandice Barber, of Wendover, Buckinghamshire, was tried for a second time over allegations that she had sex with a 15-year-old pupil in a field while working as a school cover supervisor.

Amersham Law Courts heard that the 35-year-old had told the boy she would “bring him down with her” if the relationship was discovered, and that she was pregnant with his child.

Jurors took 10 hours and 39 minutes to reach their verdicts.

Barber was also found not guilty of two further counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The boy cannot be named for legal reasons.

Barber was convicted in September of sending the boy topless pictures of herself on Snapchat between September and October 2018, but she was acquitted of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity while in a position of trust.

Prosecutor Richard Milne told the jury that the affair began after Barber approached the pupil at a sports presentation in September 2018, and took his phone before adding herself to his Snapchat, which the teenager thought was “a bit weird”.

The boy felt “worried and scared” and Barber told him “he should deny everything and should delete all the messages”, said Mr Milne.

Barber had a miscarriage but warned the boy that she would “bring him down with her” if he “snitched” by making a false allegation of rape, the court heard.

Mr Milne told the jury: “They engaged in sexual intercourse at the time he was 15 years of age and she was a teacher and he was a pupil at the school.

“It makes not a jot of difference that he was a he – the law applies equally to men and women.

“In law he could not give consent to have sexual intercourse.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.