Predatory female teacher who tied schoolboy to bed and blindfolded him jailed
On one occasion, the teacher tied him to her bed, blindfolded him and tickled him, the complainant said
A former prep teacher who sexually abused a boy she tutored has been jailed for seven years.
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Deborah Franklin, 65, who taught at a preparatory school in Hertfordshire, was convicted by a jury in July of eight counts of gross indecency against the boy during the 1990s while he was aged between nine and 12.
Franklin, who was in her 30s and married at the time, was the boy’s private tutor and subjected him to “repeated sexual activity”, prosecutors told the trial at St Albans Crown Court.
Franklin was sentenced at the same court to seven years in prison on Thursday by His Honour Judge Choudhry, who said her offending involved a “profound abuse of trust”.
Prosecutor Gavin Pottinger told the hearing on Thursday that Franklin “took the opportunities provided by her role and the trust placed in her to repeatedly abuse (the boy)”.
Jurors heard that she took her clothes off in front of the boy, kissed him, got him to touch her and performed multiple sexual acts.
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Franklin, of Radlett, Hertfordshire, had denied all the charges, saying she could not remember tutoring the boy.
Aisling Byrnes, mitigating, said Franklin lived an “exemplary life” and continued to teach in the years after the offences were committed.
She added that her client “maintains her innocence”.
The former teacher was in her 30s and married at the time of the offences, her trial was told.
The court heard that Franklin was regularly at the complainant’s house, with his sister telling jurors of the defendant: “She was fun, she was charismatic. I thought she was cool.”
The boy viewed her as “young” and “high energy”, who “presented like a mate” and spoke about drugs, cigarettes and sex, the court heard.
Franklin was “trusted” by the family to be in the boy’s room during tutoring sessions, prosecutor Gavin Pottinger said.
But Franklin was a woman “whose boundaries were just not there”, Mr Pottinger added.
The court heard that the defendant was once seen by the complainant’s sister under the covers of her brother’s bed.
The accuser said one sexual encounter took place in the garage at his house, when Franklin took off her clothes and asked “do you want to touch me?”, jurors heard.
On another occasion, at her own house, Franklin tied him to her bed, blindfolded him and tickled him, the complainant said.
The accuser said that during another sex act, Franklin called out her husband’s name.
Jurors heard that the complainant alleged the defendant described herself as his “girlfriend” but advised him to be discreet about others finding out.
He said that he had “no memory of work ever being done” during tutoring sessions, the court heard.
Judge Kamran Choudhry, giving his legal directions to the jury, said that prosecutors said the accuser, now in his 40s, has “consistently recounted the substance of the allegations over many years to many people”.
The complainant first reported the incidents to police in 2024, the court heard.
The judge added that the defence’s case was that Franklin’s relationship with the boy was “entirely proper” and not “unusually close and inappropriate”.
Franklin, giving evidence, told jurors it was “quite common for teachers and parents and children to socially interact”.
Mr Pottinger asked her: “Did you in fact remember (the boy) a good deal more than you are admitting to?”
The defendant replied: “No.”
Mr Pottinger asked: “You are choosing, still choosing, not to remember anything that happened in those years aren’t you?”
Franklin replied: “No.”
Defence barrister Aisling Byrnes asked the defendant if there was “any truth” in the allegations that she sexually touched the boy during tutoring sessions.
Franklin replied: “No.”
The defendant told jurors that it would not have been “unusual” to be in a pupil’s bedroom or on their bed while tutoring them.