Schoolboy tells jury that he was almost caught slapping PE teacher's bottom as she faces trial over alleged relationship
A schoolboy who was allegedly in a sexual relationship with a female PE teacher told a court today that he was almost caught slapping her bottom in school.
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Bronwen James, 30, is accused of having sex with the pupil at her house while they watched Wimbledon and asked him to call her 'miss' as a 'fantasy'.
James was allegedly flirtatious with the boy and invited him to her home for sex as many as four times, according to the prosecution.
The schoolboy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that he and James spent time putting PE equipment away together alone after class while he alleged they were engaged in a sexual relationship.
He told jurors on Friday that while he helped James clear away the equipment, he slapped her bottom before a different member of the school's staff walked around the corner.
James is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of four counts of sexual activity with the teenager, which she denies. She claims the boy was 'put up' by another pupil to make the allegations against her.
Opening, Edward Culver, prosecuting, told the jury: “This is a case about a teacher who exploited her position to engage in sexual activity with one of her students.
“She flirted with him, exchanged messages with him, took him to her home and she had sex with him.”
The prosecutor said the complainant told police that James would allow pupils to use their phones in lessons and after she accepted his request to add her on Snapchat they exchanged “flirtatious” messages.
This led to her driving him to Weston Shore, Southampton, where they parked and kissed in her car, Mr Culver said.
He said that following this, James took the student to her house where they had sex, which happened on three or four occasions.
He added: “The tennis was on at Wimbledon. They began watching TV before kissing and touching each other.
“She took her clothes off and then he took his clothes off.”
Mr Culver said that the pair performed sex acts on each other before they had unprotected sex.
He added that the boy “felt overwhelmed and excited at the time, this schoolboy”.
Mr Culver said: “They messaged daily and Ms James told (the boy) she cared about him, they even discussed moving in together.
“Ms James told him she loved him and wanted to move away with her.”
The prosecutor said that the school was made aware of the incidents after another student showed a teacher some text messages apparently sent between the defendant and the complainant.
He said: “They suggested a sexually charged relationship, he was named as ‘number 8’ in the messages as a cover, him being the eighth man she had slept with. Her photo was visible on the phone screen.”
He added that the jury would be shown photographs of the boy at the defendant’s home with her dog, with features of the property matching photos on Rightmove.
Mr Culver said that James did not answer questions in police interview and instead provided a prepared statement in which she suggested the complainant “had been put up to make up these allegations against her by another student”.
In a video interview with police, the student said that the day after they met in her car and kissed, she engaged in “flirty banter” with him by saying: “Where were you last night?”
The boy said that they progressed to having sex at her house and added: “At the time I was overwhelmed, it was great but looking back at it, it was wrong.”
He also told police that he had been “groomed by his PE teacher”.
Describing the first occasion at her home, he said: “She was cuddling up to me on the sofa, head in my lap, watching TV, her dog was there as well, just relaxing, then I leaned in for a kiss.
“We started kissing, then things progressed, I said ‘Shall we go upstairs?’, she said ‘Yes’ and went upstairs and we had sex. We got in bed, she got naked, I got naked and that’s how it went.”
The boy added that in class, James, who he described as “quite attractive” would “slip him vapes” in his coursework and also said that she liked him to call her “Miss” when they were alone together.
He said: “I always called her ‘Miss’, I don’t know why, I think it was her little fantasy or something.”
He also described how James had called him from her leaver’s party with other teachers in the background and told him she loved him.
He added: “I thought she cared about me.”
The boy also said: “She’s quite an attractive girl, I should say woman. I was overwhelmed, excited. At the same time she was telling me she was moving away so I didn’t want to get too invested because I knew she was leaving.”
He added: “I thought this was great, any teenage boy’s dream but I think it was wrong, at the time I wasn’t thinking that.”
The boy said that he kept her contact saved as “Number 8” on his phone because she had told him that she had previously slept with seven other men and added: “It was a code name as I wasn’t going to put her as Miss James on my phone.”
James denies the charges and the trial continues.