Teacher guilty of sending topless photos to boy aged 15
... but jury can’t decide if they had sex
A TEACHING assistant was yesterday found guilty of sending topless photos to a 15-year-old pupil – but a jury was unable to decide if she had sex with him.
Married Kandice Barber, 35, was accused of romping with the boy in a field and sending him nude images via messaging app Snapchat.
The jury convicted her of two offences relating to a topless image and a video, but was unable to reach verdicts on three counts of causing or inciting a child under 16 to engage in sex.
She now faces a retrial next January. During the two-week trial at Aylesbury Crown Court jurors heard the boy claim the mother-of-three had told him his private parts were larger than her husband’s and she had fallen pregnant with his child.
The relationship was said to have begun after Barber added herself to his Snapchat account at a sports day at Princes Risborough School in Buckinghamshire in 2018.
The boy claimed Barber then messaged him to say she wanted to meet him before driving him to a field where they allegedly had sex.
He was questioned by his headteacher when rumours began circulating around the school, but initially denied any affair had taken place, claiming later that he feared his child would be born in jail if he confessed. But in March last year topless pictures of Barber were passed around the school. The court was told that Barber, who was working as a cover supervisor, was off school for two weeks in November 2018 after suffering an ectopic pregnancy and losing her unborn baby, which she claimed had been her husband’s.
Barber, of Wendover, Buckinghamshire, denied telling the boy the child could be his and claimed the fact she had lost a baby was well-known around the school.
The jury heard evidence from her husband, Danny Barber, in which he said the couple had been trying for a child after the summer holidays in 2018.
Mr Barber, who accompanied his wife to court along with her mother Dawn Green, told jurors she was his ‘rock’ and rubbished claims their relationship had been going through a bad patch at the time of the offences.
Asked how the naked photos had been leaked, Barber claimed a
Snapchat folder named ‘My Eyes Only’ had been hacked. In her evidence, she said she had given the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, her number so he could talk to her about any issues, and denied the conversations were sexual. She said his messages ‘became a lot more persistent’ and she tried to tell him she was uncomfortable with phone calls. She claimed that when she refused to have any further contact with the boy, he sent her a message reading: ‘Watch what’s going to happen – you’re going to lose your job, you’re going to lose your family.’ She insisted she had “good intentions” when she gave her number to the teenager, despite staff being banned from contacting pupils outside school without the head’s permission.
Barber was found guilty of one count of sexual communication with a child and one of causing a child to watch a sexual act by a person in a position of trust.
She was acquitted of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activities while in a position of trust. The jury of seven women and five men delivered their verdicts after deliberating for more than 10 hours.
A retrial has been scheduled for January 18. Family sources insisted last night that delivery driver Mr Barber has vowed to stand by his wife regardless of the outcome of the second trial.
A source told MailOnline: ‘A lot of people are probably wondering why Daniel is standing by her. But that’s none of their business. They’re still very much together.
‘I can understand why people might find it strange because a lot of men wouldn’t have put up with these allegations.’
‘Pictures circulated around school’