A teacher has been jailed after grooming and sexually abusing a teenage boy then falsely claiming he raped her.
Judith Evans, 33, was sentenced to two years in prison for a series of sexual offences against the pupil and will be placed on the sex offender register for life.
She was a teacher at Belfast Boys’ Model School in Northern Ireland when she built an ‘inappropriate friendship’ with him, before going on to groom the youngster and sexually exploit him.
Judge Patricia Smyth, who jailed Evans at Belfast Crown Court on Friday, said there had been close to 10,000 text messages exchanged between the teacher and pupil.
She said the mother-of-two had basked in the boy’s ‘adolescent attraction towards her’.
The court heard that when police arrested her Evans lied and said the schoolboy had threatened and raped her.
Evans, of Elmwood Grove in Newtownabbey, initially denied charges against her, but later admitted to sexual communication with a child, meeting a child following sexual grooming, sexual activity with a child involving penetration and possessing indecent images of the schoolboy.
She also pleaded guilty to perverting the cause of justice.
The offences were committed between March 1 and May 17, 2024.
Following sentencing, PSNI detective chief inspector Jill Duffie said: ‘Evans is a cold, calculating child predator who was in a position of trust and abused that position by taking advantage of a young boy who was her pupil at the time.
‘She preyed on his vulnerabilities and built an inappropriate friendship with the boy before then further grooming him and sexually exploiting him.
‘The messages exchanged between her and her underage pupil were highly sexual and nothing short of sickening.
Judge Smyth told the court the child was particularly vulnerable because of family circumstances.
She gave him her email address and mobile phone number before they began texting.
The judge said: ‘From an early stage (the messages) contained inappropriate sexual suggestions.’
She told the court that during the Easter holidays last year she began sending sexual photos to the boy.
She added: ‘Within a matter of weeks the defendant was inviting the victim to meet her.
‘The defendant met the victim on two occasions outside school where sexual activity occurred.’
She said on a third occasion the boy would not get into a car with Evans because it belonged to her husband and did not have blacked out windows.
The judge said there were references within text exchanges to sexual contact at school, but said this had not been proven.
The court heard that Evans phoned the victim’s mother on a regular basis to discuss his demeanour and said she wanted to keep him after class for revision.
The judge added: ‘The mother recalled her son returning home looking dishevelled on one occasion with his tie undone and his shirt buttons opened after apparently having stayed behind for revision.’
After the schoolboy’s girlfriend found a text message on his phone, he admitted that he had cheated on her and said he wanted to run away and kill himself because he knew police would be involved.
The court was told his father took him to hospital where he disclosed the sexual activity with his teacher.
As well as alleging the boy raped and threatened her, she also claimed his father was connected to Northern Ireland’s loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association.
The judge said: ‘Every aspect of that account was false.’
She added: ‘There is no question that the defendant’s behaviour and the aftermath of the discovery of these offences have had a profound effect on this young victim and his family.’
She will be disqualified from working with children.
The judge said she accepted that Evans is suffering distress because of the offending.
Speaking outside court, DI Duffie said the boy has ‘suffered greatly with mental health struggles’ and had ‘shown immense bravery’ to bring Evans to justice.
She added: ‘There is still a societal stigma surrounding male victims of abuse, especially that of a sexual nature.
‘I hope today’s court outcome will showcase that young boys are just as vulnerable and that there is no shame for them to carry.
‘Suffering in silence is never the answer, abuse is never the victim’s fault.
‘We will continue to work around the clock to bring child predators before the courts and would encourage anyone who may have been abused in a similar way to come forward. The passage of time doesn’t matter.
‘Child abuse cannot continue in Northern Ireland, we will do everything in our power to stop predators in their tracks and get victims the justice they deserve.
‘If there are any young people out there who have been targeted and abused in a similar way, please come forward to us. We will help and support you.’
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