Kandice Barber, 35, faces up to five years in jail after luring the teenager to a field to have sex with him. She said she would accuse him of rape if the truth got out, adding she would “bring him down with her” if he “snitched”. Barber also told the victim she had been pregnant by him but suffered a miscarriage.
Yesterday, police and prosecutors praised the boy for giving the vital evidence which saw Barber convicted at a retrial.
Her husband Daniel had told the court she was his rock and their relationship was strong as ever.
He also reportedly told relatives he was determined to make the marriage work whatever the outcome of the court proceedings.
During the hearing the jury was told Barber approached the boy at a sports presentation in 2018, taking his phone and adding herself to his Snapchat.
He thought her behaviour was “a bit weird” and he felt “worried and scared”. Barber’s messages began normally but “became sexual” a week later. She sent him topless pictures of herself and told him “he should deny everything and should delete all the messages”.
The predator later took the schoolboy to a field where she kissed him and asked: “What do you want to do now?” Full sex followed. Prosecutor Richard Milne said: “They engaged in sexual intercourse at the time he was 15 years of age and she was a teacher and he was a pupil at the school.
It makes not a jot of difference that he was a he – the law applies equally to men and women. In law, he could not give consent to have sexual intercourse.”
The court heard rumours about the relationship went around their school and the boy, who must not be identified, initially denied them to the headteacher. Yesterday Barber, of Wendover, Bucks, was convicted of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
She was found guilty of sending topless pictures of herself following the earlier trial in September.
The disgraced teacher was bailed by Amersham Law Courts but that will be reviewed today and she was warned she may be held in custody for sentencing next month.
After the case finished, Jennie Laskar-Hall, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Barber used her position as a teacher and as a trusted member of the community to abuse a teenage boy in her care.
“The messages were crucial to our case as they showed Barber had initiated contact with the teenager and pursued him, even threatening him when the school investigation began. Denying what she had done, Barber has forced the teenager and his family to go through a trial.
“I want to commend him for providing the vital evidence we needed to secure today’s conviction.”
