THE besotted ex husband of a "predator" headteacher accused of seducing teenage boys has told how their sexless marriage ended in heartbreak.

While Eamonn Toland was married to Anne Lakey, she was having regular sex sessions with boys aged between 13 and 15 when he was away on business, it is alleged.

Mr Toland, then an auditor with the Ratners jewellery firm, told how he could not understand why his wife banned him from their tent on a camping trip the late-1980s.

But the jury was told it was because she had invited a 15-year-old who was one of a number of people with them inside and had sex with him as they shared a sleeping bag.

Mr Toland married Mrs Lakey, who has since remarried, in 1986 and for 18 months of the two-year union they did not have sex, he said.

He was away on business a lot on the dates between 1987 and 1990 when Lakey, then in her late-20s, was alleged to have seduced the boys, taking the virginity of one while he wore his school uniform.

In statement read to Teesside Crown Court Court, he said their marriage began to suffer when they moved from West Yorkshire to Stanley, County Durham, close to Mrs Lakey's parents.

Mr Toland said: "It nosedived. I felt pushed aside, I suppose looking back now, I wasn't always around which was different from when we'd lived in Huddersfield.

"For the last 18 months we didn't have sex, I knew things were not right and she didn't want anything to do with me.

"I felt heartbroken about this because I loved her and was totally besotted with her.

"On a camping trip we took, even though we were married, she would not let me sleep in the tent with her, I didn't understand it.

"My marriage ended after I returned home from working away. A group of boys were at the house and she took me into a room and basically told me our marriage was over."

Mr Toland said he remembered the two complainants as part of a group of boys who would visit their home.

He added: "I was totally head over heels in love with Anne and I worshipped the ground that she walked on."

The sex session on the camping trip had started with play fighting and tickling between Mrs Lakey, now 55, and the boy, the jury had earlier been told.

Prosecutor Caroline Goodwin said that after the rough and tumble, Mrs Lakey pulled the boy on top of her and asked him "what do you think of what nearly happened?" before inviting him back to her tent.

They had sex while her husband's tent was pitched in the same field and continued their affair at the marital home while he was away, the jury heard.

The second complainant in the case described how he would visit Mrs Lakey's home and that she took his virginity after stepping out of her bath in a towel.

She let it fall to the floor, it is alleged, and asked him: "Well what are you going to do then?" before they began having sex.

The man, now 41, told the jury: "We used to tell each other that we loved each other. We would lock the door and go upstairs and have sex . . . once maybe twice a week for several weeks, if not a couple of months."

On one occasion when Mr Toland returned from work, he was forced to hide in a cupboard, which Mr Toland said in his statement he remembered leading into the eaves in one of the upstairs rooms.

At the time, Mrs Lakey was a teacher at a school in Sunderland but neither of the alleged victims were pupils.

She denies six counts of indecent assault with one boy and seven counts of indecent assault with the other, and faces a trail scheduled or last three weeks.