Teacher accused of having sex in plane toilet after school trip likens boy's claims to ‘weird porn film’

Claim against me sounds like a weird porn film script, woman, 29, tells jury

A female teacher who allegedly had sex with a pupil in the toilet cubicle of a plane told police the boy had imagined it and that the claim sounded like a “weird porn film” script, a court has heard.

Eleanor Wilson, 29, is accused of having sexual intercourse with the teenager on a British Airways flight home from a school camping trip in August 2015.

It is alleged the science teacher, who confided in the boy that she would be having an abortion, kissed and cuddled him before “beckoning” him into the toilet.

Wilson said there was “no truth whatsoever” in allegations she had a sexual relationship with the teenager with whom she struck up a friendship.

She also denied kissing, cuddling and holding hands in his bedroom and during days out with him away from the school.

Wilson, who is now a civil servant, told jurors at Bristol Crown Court that during the flight she was regularly checking on several pupils who were suffering food poisoning.

On one occasion, as she sat outside a toilet cubicle while a pupil inside was being sick, the complainant came and stood by her and they chatted for around 15 minutes.

“There was a lot of coming and going to the toilets and people sat in the seats next to us,” Wilson said.

She denied kissing him and putting her hand down his boxer shorts.

Officers asked Wilson to explain a detailed account the boy had given in a video interview about the incident on the plane and the time they spent together alone after returning to the UK.

“The amount of detail has come from his imagination and I don’t know why he was saying that,” she said.

“They are very good at imagining stuff and thinking of... it seems like some weird porn film.”

She added: “I think it is something that is scripted. It is not a memory.”

Referring to the alleged incident in the toilet cubicle, she said: “You had kids that were sick and I didn’t want the parents thinking that we were not looking after them.

“I would not jeopardise my career or risk going to prison. I would not have broken the law or gone beyond the friendship.”

Wilson said she formed a friendship with the boy, whom she had described as “quite a charming, cheeky chap”, because she had no other friends. Apart from her then boyfriend Andrew Hall, there was no one else she could talk to, she said.

“I knew [the boy] wouldn’t judge what I said. I knew I wanted him to be happy in his relationship and he wanted the same for me and Andy,” she said.

On returning to the UK, the boy allegedly told her: “I don’t know how I’m going to cope not being able to talk to you over summer.”

Wilson said they went to Tintern Abbey during the summer holidays because she wanted a day out.

“He was really the only person I had that was a friend. He was the only person I would talk to apart from Andy,” Wilson told police.

Wilson denied holding hands or kissing the teenager in his bedroom after dropping him home from a meal at Nando’s or during days out.

“I didn’t hold hands – I am massive compared to him. I don’t think he can even reach.

“It was not my style to hold hands and kiss in public.”

Wilson told police she confided in the boy that she was pregnant during a conversation in her office at the school, and would be having an abortion.

“I didn’t want to tell Andy about it and [the boy] was the only person I spoke to,” she said

“He seemed to just care. He was kind of worried and asked whether I wanted him to come with me and I said no because I knew that wouldn’t be right.

“I saw [the boy] as a mate rather than a pupil. It had become casual and totally blurred because I didn’t teach him any more.

Wilson, of Gloucestershire, denies four charges of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by the Press Association