Teaching assistant accepted Haribo ring proposal from pupil, 17, before affair
A teaching assistant at a special needs school accepted a Haribo ring in a mock proposal and started an affair with a 17-year-old pupil, a court heard.
Susan Ayres, 41, took the pupil to gym classes, held hands on a school trip, tried to kiss him on the lips and touched his leg during a month-long relationship that began after she split from her husband.
Ayres, who has since reunited with her husband, started the affair at the school in Wiltshire in April. The boy sent her notes and once gave her a Haribo ring in a “mock proposal”. She wrote “I love you” messages in return, later adding “caring comments” and a message stating, “You’re sexy, you taste delicious”, said Pauline Lambert, prosecuting.
Swindon magistrates gave her a 12-week suspended jail sentence, 80 hours’ unpaid work and 30 rehabilitation days. She was put on a sex offender register and told to pay £85 costs and a £115 victim surcharge. At an earlier hearing, she pleaded guilty to the inappropriate behaviour.