Judge jails teacher for ‘full-blown’ relationship with pupil, 15
Woman, 23, had sex with boy in a car, at home and in a hotel room, court told
A JUDGE who jailed a teacher for engaging in a “full-blown” sexual relationship with a teenager told a court: “What 15-year-old schoolboy would turn down such an attractive offer?”
Alice Mcbrearty, 23, blamed her actions on the stress of being “thrown in at the deep end” by Teach First, a scheme designed to fasttrack graduates into the teaching profession.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard she booked a room at a hotel for sex with the boy after befriending him on social media. They kissed in the classroom, met for sex several times at her parents’ home and had sex in her car.
Jailing her for 16 months, Judge Sheelagh Canavan told Mcbrearty this was a “spectacular fall from grace”.
“You engaged in a fullblown sexual relationship with a 15-year-old child,” she said. “I accept he was consenting – what 15-year-old schoolboy would turn down such an attractive offer?
“I accept you truly believed this was a great romance, you were in love with him and vice versa, and that age didn’t matter. But it did. He was precisely at the age when he was at the mercy of his hormones.”
The court heard Mcbrearty picked the boy up from his home and took him to a garage to give him oral sex as a birthday treat.
Lisa Matthews, prosecuting, said they became “besotted” with each other. Staff at the school raised concerns and repeatedly warned her, but the affair continued.
The relationship unravelled after the boy’s father went to police fearing Mcbrearty was grooming his son. The boy was interviewed by police with social services, where he admitted the affair.
“It started in January,” Ms Matthews said. “He woke up one morning to see a friend request from Alice Mcbrearty on Facebook. He felt special and accepted it. She messaged him asking for his number.”
“The first sexual encounter took place at her home address by Wanstead Park, in February half term, where she performed oral sex.”
On Feb 27 he said she drove him to an Ibis hotel.
“She gave him oral sex. She then straddled him,” Ms Matthews told the court.
Mcbrearty, who lives at home with her parents in Wanstead Park, north-east London, wept throughout the hearing.
Emma Shafton, defending, said Mcbrearty felt demoralised after being “thrown in at the deep end” and teaching subjects she had “no experience” in at a challenging school, having just completed a Teach First programme.
“She detested her job, and that is why instead of socialising with her colleagues she socialised with students,” she added. Despite her degree, Mcbrearty has only found work delivering parcels for Amazon since leaving the teaching profession.
A Teach First spokesman said: “The safety of the pupils in our partner schools is our absolute priority. We have clear and robust safeguarding procedures in place.”