Teaching assistant ‘groomed teen boys for sex’
A MARRIED teaching assistant appeared in court yesterday accused of performing a sex act on a teenage pupil during a school trip.
Jill Meldrum-Jones, 36, is said to have carried out a string of sex offences involving the boy during the trip and over a three-month period. She is also accused of sexually assaulting a second teenage boy from the same school.
Prosecutor John Cardiff told magistrates that Meldrum-Jones, who has children of her own, was accused of a ‘clear breach of trust’, adding that she was charged with ‘engaging in sexual activity with the young man on various occasions’.
Meldrum-Jones worked at the child’s secondary school in Warwickshire, which cannot be named for legal reasons, and lives with her family nearby.
During a ten-minute appearance at Warwickshire Justice Centre in Leamington Spa yesterday, Meldrum-Jones spoke only to confirm that she did not wish to
‘A clear breach of trust’
enter a plea. The teaching assistant, who is thought to have been suspended from work earlier this year, is accused of five counts of touching a teenage boy, two counts of causing or inciting the boy to engage in sexual activity, and grooming a boy under the age of 16 with the intention of meeting to engage in sexual activity.
Meldrum-Jones is also accused of sexually assaulting the second boy by touching him on a separate occasion.
Magistrates’ chairman Paul Tasker committed the case to trial at Warwick Crown Court, which will be heard next month.
n A MOTHER of two from Dalrymple, Ayrshire, has admitted to engaging in ‘sexual activity with a male child under 16’.
At Carlisle Crown Court last week, Angela Gatt, 37, pleaded guilty to the charge, which involved a 14-year-old boy and took place at a house in north Cumbria in June last year. She will reappear at the court on October 18 for sentencing.