A female teacher had sex with a schoolboy up to 30 times after telling him she looked like a porn star, a court has heard.
Sally-Anne Bowen, 65, is accused of abusing two boys at a north London school in the 1980s when they were just 14 and 15. Harrow Crown Court heard how the chemistry teacher, who was in her mid-20s at the time of the allegations, “engaged in flirtatious conduct” with the teens, with at least one believing that they were in a relationship.
Ms Bowen, who denies the charges, taught at Christ’s College school in Finchley, north London, where she met the boys.
Prosecution case
Prosecutor Madeleine Wolfe said: “The prosecution case is that when Ms Bowen worked at the school, that she engaged in flirtatious conduct towards these two boys and she encouraged and engaged in sexual relationships with them both and they were 14 to 15 years old.
“The sexual abuse was notably worse to the first pupil who she engaged in acts of sexual intercourse. With the second pupil, the abuse was limited to inappropriate kissing.
“The prosecution does not suggest Ms Bowen forced herself on either boy. Viewed superficially, these boys may have appeared willing to engage in flirtatious and sexual activity.
“But the prosecution reminds you she was a teacher in a position of trust and authority. By flirting with them and engaging in sexual activity with them, she exploited her position for her own sexual gratification.
“As these boys were exploited in that way, any apparent agreement on their part was not genuine consent to the sexual activity. She denied any form of sexual activity, whether that’s kissing or sexual intercourse with either.”
Alleged incidents
One of the alleged victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, remembered how he and his friends were caught looking through a pornographic magazine by Ms Bowen.
After expecting to be reprimanded for doing so, he recalled: “In fact, what Ms Bowen did was open the pages and pointed to an image of a naked woman and said that woman’s ‘p***y’ was similar to her own.”
He said that the relationship between the pair started soon after when he went back to her flat in Golders Green where they started kissing.
Ms Wolfe continued: “For the summer holidays of 1988 he was a regular visitor to that bedroom. He thought they had sex in excess of 20 to 30 times.”
She added: “As far as he was concerned, their relationship went to the point he thought she was his girlfriend – that he loved her and she loved him.”
Impact and trial
The boy's mum eventually became suspicious about the relationship between Ms Bowan and her son, leading to her reporting her concerns to the school shortly after, the court was told.
According to Ms Wolfe, she was told Ms Bowen no longer worked there, but “wasn’t given any explanation as to why that was”.
The prosecution told the court “that this sexual behaviour towards a pupil was something that Sally-Anne Bowen should have put a stop to and it was an indecent assault on her behalf.”
Ms Wolfe continued: “Young as she was, she was not their peer, and not entitled to treat them as adults. She was a teacher entrusted with the care and welfare of her pupils.
“The fact Ms Bowen was and is a female does not make the conduct she engaged in any less serious. These were boys aged 14 to 15. They were children. She was an adult in authority. The law protects children from sexual exploitation whatever the sex of the adult or the child.
“She was a teacher, entrusted with the care and welfare of pupils, and the prosecution say she abused that trust for her own sexual gratification.”
The trial continues.
