Jury begins deliberations over 'flirty' teacher accused of sex with pupil
The jury has begun its deliberations
A jury has retired to consider its verdicts over a ‘flirty’ PE teacher accused of having sex with a teenage pupil at her home.
Bronwen James, 30, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of four charges of sexual activity with the boy.
Prosecutor Edward Culver had told jurors the case was about “a teacher who exploited her position” at Bitterne Park School in Southampton, to engage in sexual activity with one of her students.
“She flirted with him, exchanged messages with him, took him to her home and she had sex with him,” he said.
Giving evidence during the trial, James told jurors she felt she was immature and wanted to be liked but denied flirting with the 16-year-old pupil and going on to have sex with him.
She suggested the teenager had made up the allegations to look “cool” in front of his mates, she told the court.
In closing speeches on Tuesday, Mr Culver said James “breached the trust given to her” when she entered into the “improper relationship” and she “craved that attention” and “adoration”.
Defending James, barrister Heather Stangoe said the sequence given by the complainant “just does not hold up”.
James, now of of Chippenham, Wiltshire, denied the charges. Judge James Bromige sent the jurors out this afternoon (Tuesday) to begin their deliberations.