No retrial for teacher accused of having sex with pupil on flight

Pic:A jury foreman said it was not realistic that the jurors would return a majority verdict (PA)
Crime reporter(wp/es):

A former teacher will not face a retrial over allegations she had sex with a student in the toilet of a plane.

Eleanor Wilson, 29, denied four charges of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust during a trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Judge Peter Blair QC, the Recorder of Bristol, told the jury of four men and six women they could leave after 10-and-a-half hours of deliberations last week.

The jury foreman informed the judge there was not a “realistic prospect” of a majority verdict being reached.

After this, the Crown Prosecution Service asked for seven days to consider whether it wished to seek a retrial.

On Wednesday, October 17, it confirmed it would not do so.

Ms Wilson was accused of having drink-fuelled sexual intercourse with the teenager on a British Airways flight home from a camping trip in August 2015.

It was alleged the teacher, then aged 26, kissed and cuddled the boy on three other occasions, in addition to the alleged intercourse.

Within weeks of the pair returning from the trip, rumours spread around that Wilson was in a relationship with a student.

When confronted by the head teacher she denied this and said she was "horrified" at the accusation.

At the same time of the rumours spreading, Wilson discovered she was pregnant and went on to have an abortion.

Prosecutors claimed the boy was the father.

Wilson told Bristol Crown Court the boy had imagined the incident in the toilet.

She also denied holding his hand and kissing him during time alone, stating there was “no truth whatsoever" in the allegations.

Wilson, a Royal Navy Reservist, insisted the boy had imagined what he claimed happened in the plane, but he gave evidence and stated a bond had developed between them. 

He told the court he was speaking the truth. 

Ms Wilson, of The Rope Walk, Dursley, Gloucestershire, was released on unconditional bail following last week's hearing.

In July 2017, was banned indefinitely from teaching following a report by the National College for Teaching and Leadership.