TEACHER CONVICTED OF GROSS INDECENCY AGAINST BOY IN 1990S

Deborah Franklin, a 65-year-old former teacher at a preparatory school in Hertfordshire, was found guilty on Wednesday of eight counts of gross indecency against a boy. A jury at St Albans Crown Court delivered the verdicts after hearing evidence of sexual offences that occurred during the 1990s when the complainant was aged between nine and 12. Franklin, who worked as the boy's private tutor, had denied all charges, claiming she could not remember teaching him. Judge Kamran Choudhry remanded her into custody and indicated a "high possibility" of a custodial sentence.

Prosecutors told the court that Franklin, then in her 30s and married, subjected the boy to "repeated sexual activity" over an extended period. Evidence presented included accounts that Franklin removed her clothes in front of the boy, kissed him, caused him to touch her, and performed multiple sexual acts. On one occasion, she tied him to her bed and blindfolded him. The court also heard that Franklin described herself as his "girlfriend" and instructed him to keep their contact secret. The boy's sister testified that Franklin appeared "fun", "charismatic" and "cool" to the family, and that Franklin was trusted to be alone with the boy during tutoring sessions.

Franklin, of Radlett in Hertfordshire, will be sentenced on 1 October. Judge Choudhry's comments indicate that imprisonment is a likely outcome. The case spans allegations from between 1991 and 1995, according to the charges brought against her.