Teacher accused of sex with pupil in plane toilet tells court: 'He’s made this about him'

Eleanor Wilson rejects claim she fancied student and became aroused while drinking on flight

A teacher accused of having sex with a teenage pupil in a toilet on a plane has told a court their friendship only involved ”innocent talking”.

Eleanor Wilson, 29, allegedly kissed and cuddled the student before beckoning him into a cubicle on the British Airways flight home from an overseas camping trip.

She is also accused of meeting the boy outside school on three separate occasions and regularly exchanging text messages with him, including wishing the boy a happy Valentine’s Day.

Wilson, who is now a civil servant, rejected the suggestion from prosecutor Virginia Cornwall that she was bored with her own boyfriend and had a crush on the “good looking lad”.

She claimed she confided with the boy after discovering she had become pregnant with her violent and controlling partner, who was not ready to start a family.

Wilson admitted discussing her pregnancy with the student was “inappropriate” but added: “I didn’t have anyone else and I wanted someone to feel sorry for me.”

“You were bored with your life and ... he was a good looking young lad,” suggested the prosecutor. ”There was a loosening of the boundaries between you.

“You became like one of the students, moving down to their level, you liked that level of contact. You wanted to feel included and liked.”

Ms Cornwall suggested Wilson “fancied” the boy and became aroused after drinking on the flight home in August 2015.

Wilson replied: “I don’t and still don’t.”

Ms Cornwall continued: “You did and you went into the toilet and sex took place exactly how he says it happened. You have described it as pornographic and something you see in a movie.”

Wilson replied: “Ridiculous detail”.

The prosecutor also suggested the teacher’s “sense of reality” had been distorted by her feelings towards the student, who cannot be identified.

Wilson replied: “I did not have any feelings, apart from I cared. I still wanted to help him. He texted me and wished me happy Valentine’s Day, no kisses or to you. I texted back saying the same.”

She insisted she had not lied to her head teacher when she denied being in a relationship with a student. “There was nothing to get away with and I just did not want to lose my job over what was innocent talking,” she told the court.

“The trips were unprofessional and I was ashamed and afraid of losing my job. It was not morally wrong because I was trying to help him. I was coming from a good place.”

Ms Cornwall said: “You had become dependent upon him and you had become increasingly close to him. You had an emotional connection with him.

“You thought you were in a relationship with him. You used him for your own sexual and emotional gratification.”

Wilson replied: “Definitely not”.

The prosecutor claimed Wilson had “lied through her teeth” and blamed both the boy and her then-partner after the police launched an investigation in February 2016.

“Your strategy is to blame others ... to excuse your own conduct before this jury. Blaming [the boy] for the situation that you are in,” said Ms Cornwall.

Wilson replied: “I don’t blame [the boy] for putting me in this situation entirely. The fact that he’s made this about him makes me so angry.

“He knows how hard it was for me to go through [the abortion] and now he is making it about him. I don’t know what’s going on in his head.”

Ms Cornwall said: “Suggesting that he wanted to meet up and saying he had problems – all designed to excuse your conduct and divert the focus away from the sexual conduct you had.”

“No”, replied Wilson.

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

The trial will continue on Monday.

Additional reporting by Press Association