A MARRIED teacher who had sex with a schoolboy screamed as she was jailed for
a year.
Lauren Cox, 27, said “I’m sorry” to her tearful family sitting in
the public gallery as she was taken to the cells at Croydon Crown Court.
An emotional exchange took place between the victim’s mother, who exposed the
affair, and Cox’s mother.
Judge Adam Hiddleston jailed Geography teacher Cox for 12 months after
commending the boy’s mum for the way she handled the situation.
He said Cox kept the relationship secretive, but the boy’s suspicious mum
spotted him getting into her car before contacting her telling her to resign
and never see her boy again.
READ MORE:
Brits
just not fair: 4 in 5 British jobs went to foreign nationals last year as
number of EU workers doubles
Judge Hiddleston said: “Her calm and sensible reaction to this came to
her as she suffered considerable shock.
“After you made a full confession you begged to break the news and she
allowed you do to so.
“And then you didn’t do as you said. At that further meeting you had sex
with him again in a flagrant breach of trust instilled in you by his mother.
“Despite being warned to desist by the victim’s mother you offended again.”
Judge Hiddleston accepted that she groomed the boy, having known him before he
turned 16.
He said: “The relationship between you and the victim changed, one would
say, across the line.
“The effect on the victim has been considerable. He described how you
emphasised the need for secrecy which led him to distance himself from his
friends and family.
“The constant need to lie led to him becoming depressed.”
The judge took into account her guilty plea and that she had destroyed her
chances in the career she had excelled in.
He said: “In all likelihood you will never be able to work with children
again.
“You did break all of the rules, rules you were very well aware of.
“You have brought shame and disrepute on yourself but you have so taken a
very noble profession into disrepute.
“I don’t believe I would be doing my duty if I did not send out a message
loud and clear that betrayal in this situation must result in an immediate
custodial sentence.”
Crying throughout the hearing, she found herself unable to look at her family
in the public gallery but apologised as she was led to the cells.
Cox wrote an impassioned letter to the judge apologising for her actions but
vowed she would fight to teach again.
In it, she wrote: “I fell in love, I made him happy and the feeling, I
believe, was mutual.
“If there’s even a minuscule chance of me being able to resurrect my
career I will fight for it with everything I have.”
Brian Reece, prosecution, described the impact the relationship has had on the
boy.
He said: “For anyone who reads about this who’s might make jokes about
16-year-old boys who might queue up for this offending, in the real world
[the boy] must deal with the consequences.”
Cox, of Oxted, Surrey, will also be placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for
10 years.