A former teacher who was accused of having sex with a 16-year-old pupil in a plane toilet will not face a retrial.
Eleanor Wilson, 29, of Dursley, Gloucestershire, denied four counts of sexual activity with a child under 18 while in a position of trust.
Earlier this month a jury at Bristol Crown Court was unable to reach a verdict and was discharged by Judge Peter Blair QC.
The boy and the school concerned cannot be identified for legal reasons.
‘Porn film’
The jury foreman informed the judge there was not a “realistic prospect” of reaching majority verdicts in any of the charges against Ms Wilson.
Following the jury’s dismissal on 10 October, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) asked for seven days to consider if it wished to seek a retrial.
On Wednesday, a CPS spokesman confirmed there would be no further action taken.
The BBC understands “a number of factors” were behind the decision not to pursue the case.
During the trial, it was alleged Ms Wilson had sex with the boy on the flight back from an overseas school trip in 2015 – something she later described as his “fantasy”.
She said the allegations sounded “like a porn film” and told police during interview that having sex with the boy was “the last thing on my mind”, Bristol Crown Court had heard.
Jurors were told she “beckoned” him into the toilet after they drank alcohol together on the overnight flight.
Ms Wilson’s defence barrister, Anna Midgley, suggested the claim was false because the plane would have been busy with other teachers checking on pupils and fellow passengers and crew walking about.
Blackmail
The teenager claimed the pair continued a relationship after the school trip, during which she told him she was pregnant and decided to have an abortion.
Within weeks of the school trip Ms Wilson was confronted by the school’s head teacher after rumours of the affair had circulated, which she denied.
At the same time, Ms Wilson discovered she was pregnant and went on to have an abortion. Prosecutors claimed the boy was the father, she insisted she had been pregnant by her boyfriend.
Jurors were told the “clandestine” relationship was exposed months later when another pupil at the school tried to blackmail Ms Wilson into having sex with him and she went to the police.
In July 2017 a teaching tribunal struck Ms Wilson off and banned her from teaching indefinitely.
It concluded that “in view of the seriousness of the allegations… she shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of her eligibility to teach”.
She now works as a civil servant. BBC News.
