Headmistress arrested for regularly having sex with her male students

Durham, England:  A respected headteacher groomed an underage boy and had a sexual relationship with him, a court heard.

Anne Lakey, 54, engaged in a number of sexual acts with the boy when he was 13 and 14, including having sex with him, Durham Crown Court was told.

The alleged offences are said to have taken place in the late 1980s when she was a married teacher living aged around 28.

Judge Christopher Prince and a jury heard how the alleged victim, who was not one of Lakey's pupils, would visit the home she shared with her husband, with a group of youths.

Eventually, Miss Goodwin explained, he began to visit alone.

The court was told how on one occasion Lakey, who was in her late twenties, suggested the pair play a game of dares and that this resulted in her allowing him to expose and fondle her breast.

The prosecutor also explained how the boy would visit while Lakey was in the bath and that on one occasion she allowed him to see her in the bath.

Eventually, the court was told, Lakey had sex with the boy at her home, his first experience of intercourse, while he was wearing his school uniform.

The jury heard the pair had sex a number of times and engaged in other sex acts, with the boy visiting her home while Lakey’s husband was out and playing truant from school to do so.

Miss Goodwin also outlined how the defendant had phoned the boy’s school pretending to be his mother.

The trial was told the alleged victim made a complaint against Lakey in 2012 after seeing literature which bore her picture and claimed her “raison d’etre was to give young people the best start in life.”

The court was read an email from the man in which he said: “She was and probably still is a disgusting sexual monster and has had an influence on the way my life has turned out.”

Judge Prince was told Lakey had been arrested and denied all allegations.

Prosecutor Caroline Goodwin outlined: “In the late ‘80s, the boy was repeatedly sexually assaulted by this defendant.

"He was approximately 13 or 14 years old at the time. These repeated sexual assaults culminated in this defendant having sexual intercourse with him. This was say the crown a gross breach of trust.

“It was predatory behavior exacerbated by the fact that she was indeed a person of responsibility.”

Lakey denies nine charges relating to a boy under the age of 16 including inciting him to commit acts of gross indecency, gross indecency and indecent assault.