Snapchat sex trial: Buckinghamshire teacher Kandice Barber convicted

A teacher accused of having sex with a 15-year-old boy in a field has been found guilty of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Kandice Barber, 35, of Wendover, Buckinghamshire was found not guilty of two further counts of the same offence at Amersham Law Courts.

She was being tried for a second time after a first trial was unable to reach verdicts on those charges.

Barber will by sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court on 15 February.

In September, she was convicted of sending the boy topless pictures of herself on Snapchat in 2018.

The court heard Barber had approached the boy - who cannot be named for legal reasons - at a sports presentation in September 2018, took his phone from him and added herself to his Snapchat, which the boy thought was "a bit weird".

Prosecutor Richard Milne said messages had initially been normal, but had "become sexual" about a week later.

He said Barber picked the boy up in her car in October 2018 before driving to a "private" area where they had sex in a field.

The court heard that rumours had spread around the school, which cannot be named, and the boy had initially lied to his head teacher about the relationship.

The jury was told Barber had allegedly told the pupil that she could have been pregnant with his child, but that she later miscarried.

"She said he should deny everything and should delete all the messages," said Mr Milne, adding that the boy had felt "worried and scared".

Mr Milne told the jury: "It makes not a jot of difference that he was a he - the law applies equally to men and women.

"In law, he could not give consent to have sexual intercourse."

Recorder Bal Dhaliwal told Barber she must attend a bail hearing on Friday to see if she will be remanded in custody ahead of sentencing.

Jennie Laskar-Hall, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Barber used her position "to abuse a teenage boy in her care".

"Denying what she had done, Barber has forced the teenager and his family to go through a trial," she said.

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