A teacher has been jailed for seven years after subjecting a young boy to repeated sexual activity in the 1990s, including tying him to her bed and blindfolding him.
Deborah Franklin, now 65, was convicted of eight counts of gross indecency against the boy, who was aged between nine and 12 at the time. She was the boy's private tutor and also taught at a preparatory school in Hertfordshire.
Abuse during tutoring sessions
St Albans Crown Court heard Franklin, who was in her 30s at the time, took her clothes off in front of the boy, kissed him, got him to touch her and performed multiple sexual acts. The complainant, who first reported the incidents to police in 2024 and is now in his 40s, described how she tied him to her bed and blindfolded him during one encounter. He also told how she called out her husband's name during another.
Franklin, of Radlett, Hertfordshire, had denied all the charges, saying she could not remember tutoring the boy. However, she was convicted of eight counts of gross indecency.
Family's trust betrayed
The court heard Franklin was regularly at the complainant's house, with his sister telling jurors: “She was fun, she was charismatic. I thought she was cool.” The boy viewed her as “young” and “high energy”, who “presented like a mate” and spoke about drugs, cigarettes and sex.
Franklin was “trusted” by the family to be in the boy's room during tutoring sessions, prosecutor Gavin Pottinger said. But Franklin was a woman “whose boundaries were just not there”, Mr Pottinger added.
Incidents described in court
She was once spotted by the complainant's sister under the covers of her brother's bed. The accuser said one sexual encounter took place in the garage at his house, when Franklin took off her clothes and asked “do you want to touch me?”
On another occasion, at her own house, Franklin tied him to her bed, blindfolded him and tickled him. The accuser said that during another sex act, Franklin called out her husband's name. The complainant said Franklin described herself as his “girlfriend” but advised him to be discreet about others finding out. He said that he had “no memory of work ever being done” during tutoring sessions.
