Trainee teacher 'had sex with 16-year-old pupil'

A trainee teacher at a public school had sex with a 16-year-old pupil after getting him drunk on cider, a court heard today.

Hannah McIntyre, 25, a classics teacher at £8,000-a-year Merchant Taylors' Boys' School in Crosby, Merseyside, also kissed the boy "passionately" when they took part in a booze-fuelled game of dares, Liverpool Crown Court was told.

Gerald Baxter, prosecuting, said she allowed the boy and two of his friends into her home on a Friday night, later buying them cider which they drank while watching television and playing the dare game.

The boy later followed her into the bedroom where they had sex, Mr Baxter said.

He told the jury: "On the night of the offence, the boy was out with two school friends.

"One of them said he knew where the defendant lived and suggested to the others that they should call at her house.

"They knocked on her door and, they will say, she invited them in."

Mr Baxter said McIntyre, of Winstanley Road, Waterloo, Merseyside, was already drinking wine when the boys arrived and all four sat and watched television and talked until they all went to an off-licence.

He added that she agreed to buy the boys a two-litre bottle of cider and bought more wine for herself.

When they returned to the house, Mr Baxter said, one of the boys dared the defendant to kiss the alleged victim.

"The kiss was described as quite passionate," the barrister told the jury.

As the night wore on, the three boys and their teacher decided it was too late for them to venture home alone and they would stay at her house for the night, the court heard.

"Whereas two of the boys slept in the living area, (the alleged victim) went upstairs and into bed with the defendant," Mr Baxter said.

The barrister admitted to the jury that the boy, who was drunk after consuming much of the cider, was unclear in his recollection of how they ended up in bed together and how the sexual activity began.

"But he does recall having sexual intercourse with her," Mr Baxter said.

McIntyre, who was in her final year of teacher training when the alleged offence happened, denies one count of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.