A chemistry teacher accused of having sexual relationships with two schoolboys behaved like she was in 'a Sabrina Carpenter music video' in class, a court has heard.
Allegations of inappropriate behaviour in class
Sally-Anne Bowen, 65, is accused of having sexual relationships with two boys at Christ's College in Finchley, north London, in the late 1980s when they were 14 or 15 and she was in her mid-20s.
Former pupil Tobias Oliver, who did not know the two alleged victims, told Harrow Crown Court today that her arrival caused 'a stir' in the school which normally had male or older female teachers.
Giving evidence, Mr Oliver, who was in a different year group to the alleged victims, said: 'She dressed and behaved more like my teenage female friends than the other teachers. She would wear short, very tight skirts, a tight t-shirt or vest top and a loose cardigan.'
'The topics of conversation in class often strayed away from chemistry and became quite sexual.'
Details of classroom conduct
Mr Oliver told the court Bowen had no boundaries and 'felt more like trying to be one of us, like our friend, than a teacher'. He said Bowen was 'very flirtatious' in class and told them how she enjoyed giving oral sex to her boyfriend.
'She would share staffroom gossip which we thought was interesting and talk about other staff – about their relationships and desirability,' he said. 'At the time, I remember thinking it was very odd. Very sexual. Very unlike a teacher.'
'She was very flirtatious in class. She would often chew on the end of her hair, her cardigans. She would brush her hands over her breasts. She would lower her eyes and look at boys in her class.'
He said on one occasion Bowen sat on a desk and caught the attention of the class before slowly opening her legs revealing her underwear.
He said there was another occasion when a boy in the class was reading a 'sex manual', which he believed to be the Kama Sutra. Mr Oliver said: 'Sally-Anne Bowen decided to go through it, discussing the merits of different sexual positions, telling us what she had tried and asking what we had tried.' He said this was not a 'brief incident' and it 'became the focus of the lesson'.
Incident witnessed by former pupil
The former pupil said that before one lesson he saw Bowen at the top of some stairs with 'a couple of students'. He told the jury: 'One of these students had his hands on her breasts. I heard Sally-Anne Bowen giggling and saying “stop, you shouldn’t do that”- but in the playful way you sort of do if you’re being flirtatious with someone.'
Asked by defence barrister Mark Kimsey if he had reported the incident to anyone, Mr Oliver said he had not.
Richard Luker, who was head of science at the school in the late 1980s, told the court he remembered a complaint from the first alleged victim's mother that she was concerned the boy was planning to travel abroad with Ms Bowen at the end of term.
Bowen, of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, denies eight counts of indecent assault and the trial continues.
