UK4 min(s) read
A 16-year-old student has told a court that he initially denied having an alleged sexual relationship with his PE teacher because he wanted to "keep her sweet."
Bronwen James, 30, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of four counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.
The charges concern a boy who attended Bitterne Park School in Southampton, England, where James was working as a PE teacher. She denies the charges and claims the boy was "put up" by another student to make the allegations against her.
Per The Daily Mail, jurors heard that James allegedly became "flirtatious" with the teenager and communicated with him on Snapchat before meeting him outside school.
The prosecution alleges that James picked the student up in her car, where they kissed, before later inviting him to her home. The teenager told the court that he now believes he was "groomed" but said that, at the time, he thought the situation was "great" and felt like he was living "a teenage boy's dream."
In police interview footage played to the court, the teenager described his interactions with James and said she liked him to call her "miss" when they were together.
"I always called her 'miss', I don't know why, I think it was her little fantasy or something," he said.
He told the court: "I was just enjoying it whilst it was happening. It was such a weird period of my life. I don't really remember everything that happened and when it happened."
The teenager was also questioned about why he initially denied that there was a relationship when concerns were raised by the school and Child Protection Services.
He said: "That is when Child Protection [Services] came to me and I denied it because it was still going on.
"I denied it all to keep her sweet. I had a meeting with the head teacher and I denied it all again with Child Protection."
The boy said he and James "always used to flirt in lessons" before they began meeting in her car. He claimed that on one occasion, after they had met outside school, James approached him in class the following day and asked in a "flirty" manner: "Where were you last night?"
The prosecution alleges that the relationship later became sexual, with the teenager visiting James at her home. The court heard that one of the alleged encounters happened while Wimbledon was on television.
Recalling his feelings at the time, the boy said: "At the time I was overwhelmed. It was great but, looking back at it, it was wrong."
Describing the first alleged occasion at James' home, he told the court: "She was coming to me on the sofa, head in my lap, watching TV, her dog was there as well, just relaxing, then I leaned in for a kiss.
"We were kissing, then things progressed, I said 'Shall we go upstairs?', she said 'yes' and we had sex. She got naked and I got naked and that's how it went."
The teenager also alleged that James would give him vapes during lessons by slipping them into his coursework. He told the court that she later said she loved him during a phone call while she was outside a nightclub with other teachers at her leaving party.
He added: "I thought she cared about me."
Opening the prosecution case, Edward Culver told jurors: "This is a case about a teacher who exploited her position... 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.
"At the time of these allegations [the complainant] was 16, a student in Year 11 of Bitterne Park School in Southampton."
Culver said the student attempted to add James on Snapchat and alleged that although she initially refused, she later accepted the request. The prosecution says their messages then became flirtatious and the pair met at Weston Shore, where they kissed in James' car.
The court heard that the school became aware of the allegations after another student showed a teacher messages said to be between James and the teenager that suggested a "sexually charged relationship."
James denies the four charges concerning the boy. The trial at Winchester Crown Court is continuing.
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