6 years for teacher who had sex in field with pupil, 15
A MARRIED teacher who groomed and had sex with a 15-year-old schoolboy in a field has been jailed for six years.
Kandice Barber, 35, also sent the teenager topless photos of herself and warned that if he told anyone about the relationship, she would ‘take him down with her’.
At a retrial in January, the mother- of- three was found guilty of one count of having sex with the boy, and not guilty of two similar charges. In September, she was convicted of sexual communication with the boy, who cannot be named, but the jury was unable to conclude whether they had sex.
Barber’s husband, Daniel, had previously said he would stand by his wife, referring to her as his ‘rock’, but he was not at Aylesbury Crown Court as she was sentenced yesterday.
David Povall, prosecuting, told the court that the sexual encounters plus the ordeal of the two trials had given the victim significant anxiety, and his GCSE results had suffered.
The judge, Recorder Bal Dhaliwal, told Barber: ‘ You acted in gross breach of trust. You took advantage of a child in your care and groomed him for your own sexual gratification.’ The trial heard that the cover teacher at Princes Risborough School, Buckinghamshire, had approached the boy at a sports presentation on September 27, 2018, and took his phone before adding herself to his Snapchat account.
Messages ‘became sexual’ a week later, with Barber eventually sending him explicit footage of herself, asking if he preferred ‘boobs or bum’.
She picked him up in her car and drove to a secluded spot to have sex in October 2018, the trial heard. Her internet history revealed she had searched for ‘good secluded areas’ and ‘Holiday Inn Wycombe’.
Barber had told the boy she was pregnant with his child, and he feared that if he told anyone of their relationship, his baby would be born in prison, the court heard.
Nadia Chbat, defending Barber, said sending her client to jail would have a significant impact on her three children and two step- children. Jailing Barber for six years and two months, Recorder Dhaliwal told her: ‘You befriended him in the full knowledge such contact was prohibited. Initially messages did not contain sexual contact. Within a week those messages became sexual. You called him and asked to meet. He agreed and you walked into some private fields. You asked if he wanted to have sex, he agreed.
‘I am satisfied that you told him you were pregnant and you did not know who was the father. It was an attempt by you to manipulate and control him.
‘You are an adult who abused her position of trust and sought to hide your offending.
‘It matters not you are female and the victim male.’
Barber was also handed a 16month prison sentence for causing a child under 16 to watch sexual activity by a person in breach of trust and a ten-month sentence for sexual communication, both to be served concurrently with her main sentence.
She must register as a sex offender and abide by the terms of a sexual harm prevention order for life. She is also barred from ever working with children.
Following the sentencing, the NSPCC stressed the need for victims of child sexual abuse to be properly supported.
The charity said: ‘As a teacher, Barber would have been well aware of the vulnerability of young people, and it was her duty to safeguard those in her care. But, instead, she exploited her position of trust to groom and abuse this teenage boy for her own sexual gratification.’
‘It matters not that you are female’