Teacher who had sex with boy, 15, in field is jailed

5 March 2021, 11:31 | Updated: 5 March 2021, 16:26

A married teacher who groomed and had sex with a 15-year-old boy has been jailed for six years and two months.

Kandice Barber, 35, was found guilty of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity following a retrial, and was today told long she would be spending behind bars.

The Buckinghamshire teacher was tried on the charges for a second time after the first jury failed to reach a verdict.

Barber was convicted in September of sending the boy - who cannot be named for legal reasons - topless pictures of herself over picture communication app Snapchat in 2018.

The jury was told she had added him on the app after approaching him at a sports presentation and taking his phone to add herself, which the boy said he thought was "a bit weird".

Prosecutor Richard Milne said the messages between them had initially been normal, but around a week later had "become sexual".

He said in October 2018 Barber picked the boy up in her car where she took him to a "private" area where they had sex in a field.

Amersham Law Courts heard she had told the boy she would ‘bring him down with her’ if they discovered, and that she was pregnant with his child.

Prosecutor David Povall summarised a statement from the victim, who said he faced stress and anxiety as a result of the incidents and going through two trials.

He continued: "He was at school and it was through his presence at school that he came into contact with this defendant, who was working there in a position of trust.

"He feels that his GCSE results were not as good as they should have been, in part as a result of the impact of these incidents on him.

"As a result of his poorer-than-expected GCSE results he had to leave the good school he was attending and go to a sixth-form college where none of his friends were.

"In summary, he says that the defendant ... who was supposed to help students make the right decisions instead helped him to make all the wrong decisions."

Recorder Bal Dhaliwal: "There is no doubt in my mind that you acted in gross breach of trust. You took advantage of a child in your care and groomed him for your own sexual gratification."

Barber later told the boy to delete all messages and block her on Snapchat to stop evidence being found.

"You remained determined to silence him in whatever way you could," Judge Dhaliwal said.

Barber later told the teenager that she was pregnant and was unsure whether the baby was his or her husband's. "This was yet another attempt by you to manipulate and control him," the judge continued.

"You already had authority over him by the nature of your position, and to use threats to bring him down so he would comply with your demands to remain quiet, which is what I find that you did, is in my view beyond despicable."

Barber was also handed a 16-month prison sentence for causing a child under 16 to watch sexual activity by a person in breach of trust and a further 10-month sentence for sexual communication, both to be served concurrently with her main sentence.

She will be required to notify police of her personal details and address for the rest of her life, as well as being barred from working with children and vulnerable adults, and being subject to a lifelong sexual harm prevention order.