JAILED: SCHOOL WORKER IN TEEN SEX ABUSE
ASCHOOL IT technician groomed an underage pupil to engage in a violent sexual relationship which saw him abuse her on school grounds.
Alex Barnes, 22, would slap the teenager and also sexually abused her in a classroom and toilet at the school, a court heard.
The relationship – which was discovered after schoolmates of Barnes’ victim became suspicious – started after he became Facebook friends with the 15-year-old pupil and began volunteering for a club she attended.
During the course of their relationship the defendant persuaded the pupil to engage in sexual activity on the school grounds during school hours as well as in his car and at his home.
School staff became concerned about the relationship between Barnes and the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after she confided in friends on a foreign trip.
Despite being suspended from the school after an investigation was launched and being interviewed by police, Barnes continued abusing the girl and coerced her into performing a sex act on him.
A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court yesterday heard Barnes became an assistant IT technician at the school – in the Bridgend area – in February 2017 but the relationship with the girl did not start until the beginning of 2018.
Prosecutor Lawrence Jones said Barnes had sexual preferences for bondage and sadomasochism (BDSM) and he persuaded the girl it was what constituted a normal relationship.
An investigation was launched by the school in February 2018 and Barnes was suspended. He was also interviewed by police, but this did not stop his contact with the pupil.
During a police interview in March Barnes accepted having a friendship with the pupil and admitted had engaged in “kissing and cuddling” with her but he denied a sexual relationship.
His phone was seized and analysed. Many of the messages between Barnes and the pupil had been deleted but a substantial amount were recovered.
In another police interview, in May, Barnes admitted to having a preference for BDSM, but denied having full sex or slapping the girl’s face, saying the the relationship was “romantic” rather than sexual.
A week before his scheduled trial Barnes pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual activity with a child and three counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
Defence barrister Owen Williams said his client had “emotional instability” and had suffered from emotional problems in the past.
Barnes, of The Green Avenue, Porthcawl, was sentenced to five years in prison.
Judge Daniel Williams also ordered him to sign the sex offenders register and made him the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.