Gary Ralston sobs in dock as he’s jailed for four years for robbing mum who took him in after sex scandal with teacher Bernadette Smith
Gary, 19, was part of the armed raid at barmaid Marion Bowmaker's house where he took refuge after his fling hit the headlines
A TEENAGER once seduced by his teacher today sobbed in the dock as he was locked up for four years for robbing the mum who took him in after the sex scandal.
Gary Ralston, 19, was part of the armed raid at barmaid Marion Bowmaker’s house where he took refuge after his romp with married Bernadette Smith.
Ralston admitted the attack – in which he burst in on the victim and her son with another masked raider before threatening them with a pickaxe, a knife and a baseball bat – was “like a scene from a horror movie”.
Sentencing the thug, nicknamed “Shaggs” at the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Ericht told him: “The Bowmakers took you in and treated you like a son.
“You repaid that kindness with a vicious robbery in their home.”
As Ralston was led to the cells, his dad Richard shouted: “Keep the head up, son”.
A woman beside him added: “Love you.”
Ralston had earlier denied the assault and robbery but a judge heard how he had since made a “full confession” to social workers.
The court heard how Ralston teamed up with convicted armed robber Gavin Landsborough, 25, for the raid last December.
The pair stormed into the family home in Cowie, Stirlingshire, where single parent Marion, 49, was with Ben, 19.
They made their getaway by bus with three mobile phones, a PlayStation 4 and £20.
Ralston was 16 when he moved in with Marion for three months, shortly after his affair with Bannockburn High School teacher Bernadette Smith, 38, hit the headlines in 2014.
He also went to primary school with her son Ben.
Ralston, of Stirling, text Landsborough the night before the raid and threatened to “beat the f***” out of anyone in the house.
The accomplice replied saying he had weapons and gloves.
They later burst into Miss Bowmaker’s house after she let her dog out.
Ralston kept the terrified mum downstairs while Landsborough initially tried to hack into her son’s room with an axe.
Ben Bowmaker told the jury how he knew it was Ralston – someone he described as an “old school friend”.
Miss Bowmaker recalled thinking at the time: “How can he do that to me, how can he repay us by coming in to rob us with weapons and terrify us?”
Ralston’s lawyer Drew McKenzie today said: “He speaks of his shame at taking part in such a horrific offence.
“He acknowledges that, at one point, it was like a scene from a horror film.”
Landsborough was caged for 40 months in March after admitting his part in the raid.
Married mum-of-three Smith was later sacked and put on the sex offenders’ register after she admitted kissing Ralston and romping half-naked.
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