Wallingford teacher jailed for grooming school boy

AN Oxfordshire schoolteacher has been jailed after grooming and having a sexual affair with a 15-year-old boy pupil with whom she fell in love.

The boy said he was so devastated by the 25-year-old Fay Mcrobbie's sexual demands that he confessed to a judge who jailed her that he had considered sexually harming himself in a bid to make himself less attractive to the woman.

The story of the teacher's grooming affair with a boy 10 years her junior was revealed in court at a sentencing hearing today which saw Mcrobbie jailed for more than two years.  

Mcrobbie, of Wallingford, groomed her 15-year-old student and forced him to join her martial arts class where she kissed him and began a romantic relationship, a court heard.

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The court was told that she was planning a future for the pair while the boy felt under immense pressure as her emotional crutch. At his breaking point, the schoolboy ended their two-year relationship, claiming he did not love the learning support assistant anymore.

However, when Fay Mcrobbie found out he was starting a relationship with a girl of his own age, she penned a letter threatening to kill herself. A judge heard how the boy was so desperate to sever ties to his former lover that he was seriously considering genital mutilation.

The now 22-year-old stood up in crown court to express how the teacher's controlling behaviour had deeply affected him.

He said:  "Fay was relying on me emotionally, I felt responsible for her feelings. She would turn to me if she was feeling sad, I had started to distance myself from my friends and family.

"The relationship only got worse, arguments were getting more frequent and the reasons were getting more silly each time. I was becoming severely depressed as I could not speak to anyone, Fay was my only friend.

"As I was going to be leaving school and going to college, I wanted to stop talking to Fay but she was planning a future for us.

"Around New Year’s Eve I told her I did not love her anymore. She broke down saying she could not continue life if we were not together, she told me she wanted to kill herself. She was over-burdening me with her emotions.

"Fay found out about my new girlfriend and she went crazy. She made it her mission to break us apart. At the time I would have done anything to get her away from me, I even considered genital mutilation - I thought if I had nothing there to interest her then she might leave me alone."

The ‘wholly inappropriate’ relationship began while Mcrobbie was teaching the student at his school in Wokingham, Berkshire.

The 25-year-old invited the boy - to the knowledge of the school - to her martial arts training classes. The pair would travel to the sessions together, allowing their ‘friendship to flourish into a relationship’, prosecutor Robin Miric said.

Sitting at Reading Crown Court, the judge heard how the couple first kissed outside a martial arts class during a play fight which led to participating in ‘mutual masturbation’ in the training hall on at least 10 occasions before she took his virginity while at a friend's house.

The pupil, who cannot be named for legal reasons, explained to the judge: "During the travel to and from martial arts she would give me a lot of attention and we were able to talk about a lot of things. Fay and I were getting closer, we would hug and she would rest her head on my shoulder but I was too uncomfortable to say anything.

"One day before training, we were play-fighting when things took a turn and we kissed. Before this point I did not have any interest in girls, it was unexpected for me. After this we would get to training early so we could do more sexual stuff.

"Over the summer holidays we went to a friend's house, this was the first time we had sex. I felt I wanted to run away, I was very much not ready, it was the first time I was naked in front of someone else.

"I felt dirty, I could not stand the sight of myself in the mirror and I felt my innocence had been taken away."

After the relationship had turned sour, the victim later disclosed his secret to an employer who, with his permission, informed police.

Mcrobbie was arrested on May 16 2019 and gave a ‘no comment’ interview but later admitted three counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Defending the sobbing teacher, Robert Slinn said: "Fay is appalled by her actions. She has gained real insight into the lasting damage her behaviour has had on the victim. She knew it was damaging at the time but she was fatalistic in her own view.

"She was unable to view a future for herself, she was seeking validation. She knew that this relationship was, from the outset, a breach of trust and wholly wrong.

"Her relationship with the victim was, although wholly inappropriate, a genuine affection. Despite being completely misplaced, she believed she was in a relationship. Now, her reputation is forever marked. Fay will carry the weight of her offending for many years to come."

The court heard how, in 2017, the teacher was a chronic suicide risk and ‘her arms still bear the scars from that period’, the defence barrister added.

In sentencing McRobbie, Judge Paul Dugdale said: "In 2014 and 2015 you were aged 25 years and you worked as a learning support assistant at a high school. You were teaching boys and girls, including the victim who was aged 15 years.

"At this time you were not without your own difficulties of dependency and depression. The victim was 10 years younger than you when you first got involved with him. It is clear from what I have read that he was a shy, somewhat vulnerable 15-year-old.

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"There is no doubt that you groomed him. You specifically went out of your way to be nice to him. You convinced him to join martial arts training with you. While he was aged 15 years and you were his teacher, you choose an opportunity at a martial arts class to kiss him. 

"There, after a period of time while he was aged 15 years, that progressed to what has been described as mutual masturbation. You were his teacher. That progressed in the summer holidays to you taking him to a friend's house and having sex with him. There were many occasions when you had sex with him.

"That was a gross and terrible breach of trust. You were in a position of trust as his teacher and you treated him like your boyfriend. The sad part is that I have no doubt it was due to your own mental health issues that you did regard him as your boyfriend.

"You involved him in a full relationship, he was far too young and vulnerable to be in that state with anybody let alone an adult who is 10 years older than him. From what he told me, it is clear you placed a huge amount of emotional pressure on him, especially when he wanted to end the relationship.

"You placed further pressure writing to him telling him and his girlfriend that you were going to kill yourself. The reality is not only were you acting in breach of trust, having a sexual relationship with a pupil 10 years younger than you, you were behaving in a controlling coercive way towards him because of the perception that you were in a relationship and you needed him to support you in the difficulties in your life.

"You used him for that purpose as well as using him for your own sexual gratification. He was not remotely able to deal with it and you caused a lot of damage. I have taken into account everything I have read about your mental health but while that may be an explanation, I am afraid it is not an excuse."

Mcrobbie, of Wilding Road, Wallingford, was jailed for two years and four months and will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.