Married female teacher who had sex with 16-year-old pupil screams as she's jailed for 12 months

The teacher had a relationship with the pupil for 8 months

Lauren Cox was sentenced to a year in prison (PA)

A former teacher has been jailed for having sex with a 16-year-old pupil she groomed at school.

Lauren Cox, 27, reportedly screamed as she was sentenced to a year in prison after admitting guilt to several counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child under 18.

She had first met the boy at a school in south-east London, when he was aged 13, before starting a sexual relationship with him when he was aged 16.

Cox also sent the boy explicit photos and videos during the course of their eight-month relationship in which they would meet after school and in the holidays.

The boy invented imaginary girlfriends to explain his erratic behaviour to his family during this time.

Later, the student's parents became increasingly suspicious and he eventually told them of the relationship.

The parents contacted the head teacher of the school, which cannot be named for legal reasons. The school alerted social services, after Cox, from Oxted in Surrey, continued to message the pupil after her behaviour was discovered.

In court, she screamed as her sentence 12-month sentence was read, the Mail Online reported, and said “sorry” to her family as she was led away. She has also been barred from teaching again.

In a letter to the court, described by the news website, Cox wrote: “I’d like to apologise to [the boy] for putting my heart in front of my head. I fell in love and thought the feeling mutual. If there’s any small chance I might resurrect my career, I will fight for it.”

However, Judge Adam Huddleston called her “a shame and a disgrace”.

Pc Laura Davies of the Met Police said: "Cox abused her position of trust as a teacher and groomed the boy, which went on to sexual abuse. The abuse has had an extremely adverse effect on the boy with his studies suffering as a result.

"Cox never once admitted the offences during police interview. She only admitted the offences subsequently because of the wealth of evidence against her.

"Cox displayed dismissive arrogance to the seriousness of the allegations against her. It's most concerning that she showed no remorse - as professionals, teachers have a specific duty of care to young people and this was abused."