Jail for teacher in lesbian affair with pupil, 15

Louise Yeoman began the 14-month relationship when the schoolgirl was only 15 while she was teaching her English at a school in the Wakefield area, Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday.

Initially they made contact through an internet chat website but then began texting each other and the girl began visiting her home after she picked her up in her car from a park one day in early 2009.

The relationship progressed from discussing their feelings with each other to kissing, then to sexual touching and the use of a sex toy.

Duncan Ritchie, prosecuting, said the girl told police she had never felt pressured, only uneasy about lying to her mother.

None of the offences occurred at the school, only at weekends when the teenager visited Yeoman's home, then in Wakefield.

The offences came to light earlier this year when other teachers saw a text message from the girl on Yeoman's phone during a school trip. Inquiries showed the "Luke" sending messages on the girl's phone was Yeoman not a boy.

Yeoman, 29, recently of St John's Drive, Harrogate, admitted three charges of sexual activity with a child, two of inciting the teenager to engage in sexual activity with her and five of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.

She was ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years and was barred from working with children under 16.

Sentencing her, Recorder Adrian Waterman QC said she knew what she was doing was wrong.

"You were the adult, she was the child, you were the teacher, she was the pupil, you were the one in whom trust had been placed to ensure that you would respect the vital boundaries that must exist between adults and children and between teachers and pupils.

"You are the one who bore the responsibility for preserving those boundaries. You were the one who failed to do so and who abused the trust placed in you."

He said those who sexually abused children in their care often saw what they were doing as about love and normal relationships. "But whatever your feelings, this was not about love and a normal relationship. Whatever feelings she had for you, whether you did what you could to cause them or whether they arose spontaneously, you should not have responded to it in the way you did. It was a violation. You abused her."

John Wilkinson, for Yeoman, said her career was in tatters because of the affair. "She clearly understands what she did was wrong."

She was in her first job as a teacher and was something of a loner, craving affection and found it surprising a girl considered clever, talented and popular would like her.

She considered the relationship one of genuine affection and wished contact with the girl again in the future should she wish it.

But the court heard the girl now wanted to move on with her life and a Sexual Offences Prevention Order was made barring Yeoman from contacting her.

Wakefield Council's service director for schools Sue Johnson said afterwards: "The safety and wellbeing of all children is of paramount importance in our schools. Incidents like this are very rare; nevertheless, robust policies are in place not only to deal with incidents in a swift and appropriate way but also to ensure that support is available to students and staff."