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Teaching assistant Helen Turnbull cleared of sex with boy | Teaching assistant Helen Turnbull cleared of sex with boy |
(35 minutes later) | |
A teaching assistant has been cleared of having sex with a 16-year-old pupil but received a suspended jail sentence for kissing him. | |
Teesside Crown Court heard that Helen Turnbull, 35, had sex with the boy in her Mini convertible, but the jury found her not guilty of three charges. | |
However, Turnbull was sentenced for kissing the boy and sending him sexual text messages, which she admitted. | |
Judge Peter Armstrong heard the mother of two's life had been ruined. | |
Underwear photos | |
The court heard that Turnbull, from Haswell in County Durham, has lost her job as a literacy assistant and contact with her two children after she pleaded guilty to one count of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust in relation to the kissing. | |
She admitted kissing the boy in secret meetings in her Mini convertible and sending him pictures of her in her underwear. | |
Turnbull sobbed in the dock at Teesside Crown Court when the jury cleared her of three further counts relating to allegations she had sex with him. | |
Judge Armstrong said she became "emotionally and physically" involved with the boy when she was unhappy in her marriage to her husband. | |
The couple have since divorced. | |
'Not just spontaneous' | |
Turnbull groomed the boy to an extent, the judge said, by building up his trust in her. | |
He told her: "He was attractive to you, you were attractive to him and, unfortunately, a relationship developed which should never have developed. You knew that. | |
"This was not just a spontaneous coming together, kissing. There was a build-up to it which we have all seen in the considerable messaging traffic which went on between you." | |
The judge said the pupil fully consented to the relationship and, had he not been at her school, no offence would have been committed. | |
He added: "I think you feared the worst at the time this was happening but you were unable to prevent yourself getting involved with this young man." | |
Judge Armstrong sentenced her to four months in jail, suspended for two years, ordered her to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and imposed a restraining order to keep her away from the boy. She must remain on the sex offenders register for seven years. | |
Turnbull has been barred from working with children and will never teach again, the court heard. |
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