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Married teacher, 35, who had sex with 15-year-old boy is jailed

Teacher Kandice Barber, 35, leaves Aylesbury Crown Court, Buckinghamshire, after being found guilty of two sex offence charges related to sending topless Snapchat pictures to a 15-year-old student. The jury were unable to reach verdicts on three more serious charges of causing or inciting a child aged under 16 to engage in a sexual act.
Teacher Kandice Barber, 35, had sex with an underage pupil. (PA)

A married teacher who had sex with a 15-year-old pupil has been jailed more than six years.

Kandice Barber sent topless photos of herself to the boy while she worked as a school cover supervisor.

She took him to a field to have sex, and said she would "bring him down with her" if the relationship was discovered, threatening to accuse him of rape.

The 35-year-old from Wendover, Buckinghamshire, also suggested she could be pregnant with his child.

Watch: Teacher locked up before sentencing for schoolboy sex

She was convicted of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity in January, and found guilty of sending the boy topless pictures of herself on Snapchat between September and October 2018 after a trial last year.

Recorder Bal Dhaliwal handed Barber a sentence of six years and two months at Aylesbury Crown Court on Friday and said: “You also sent images, including a topless image of yourself, and a live video in which you were masturbating.

"All of these acts are tantamount to you grooming him and pulling him in, and with significant planning on your part."

"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."

Teacher Kandice Barber, 35, leaves Aylesbury Crown Court, Buckinghamshire, with her husband Daniel, after appearing accused of engaging in illegal sexual activity with a 15-year-old boy.
Barber, 35, was accompanied to court by her husband Daniel. (PA)

Barber was found not guilty of two counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Jurors heard the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, thought it was "a bit weird" when Barber approached him at a sports presentation in September 2018 and added herself to his Snapchat.

He later became "worried and scared" after Barber said "he should deny everything and should delete all the messages", threatening the rape accusation if he "snitched", the trial heard.

On Friday, prosecutor David Povall said: "(The boy) 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."

Speaking about Barber's suggestion of pregnancy with the boy's child – later miscarrying – the judge said: “This was yet another attempt by you to manipulate and control him.

"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."

Jennie Laskar-Hall, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said after the verdict: “Barber used her position as a teacher and as a trusted member of the community to abuse a teenage boy in her care."

She said messages between Barber and the boy "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, and I want to commend him for providing the vital evidence we needed to secure today’s conviction."

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