THE jury in the trial of a headteacher accused of abusing two boys in the 1980s will hear a summing-up of the case on Friday (June 19) before being sent out to try to reach its verdicts.

Judge Howard Crowson will address the panel of seven men and five women, who today heard closing speeches from prosecutor Caroline Goodwin, and Tim Roberts, QC, defending.

Miss Goodwin described the 55-year-old Anne Lakey as a sexual predator who always got what she wanted; while Mr Roberts said the case against her was a "contradictory miasma of evidence".

The two barristers addressed the Teesside Crown Court jury on what was the sixth day of the trial against the suspended chief executive of the Durham Federation of schools.

Mrs Lakey, of Oxhill Villas, Stanley, County Durham, taught RE and history at a school in Sunderland at the time of the alleged sexual assaults three decades ago.

A boy aged 15 at the time said he lost his virginity with Mrs Lakey - then known as Toland - on a camping trip, and went on to have regular sex at her home.

Another lad was said to have been 13 or 14 when he had first had sex with her after he was allowed to watch her in the bath, and also had a relationship.

The Crown says Mrs Lakey, who is now a married mother, manipulated both boys, and played games - tickling one and dare with the other - to "push boundaries" before sex.

The defence says the account of one accuser contains certain "dubious and unlikely claims" and false memory, while the other is "palpably false and malicious".

Miss Goodwin told the jury: "The Crown submits there is a clear pattern, a predatory pattern, a pattern that is repeated in the case of both boys.

"No matter how uncomfortable you may feel about it, it is your duty, if you consider that the case is proved against this defendant, to find her guilty."

Mr Roberts cited the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta and the establishment of the country's lauded legal system during his speech to the jury.

He said: "We invite you to return not guilty verdicts on each and every one of these counts, for the standard of proof required has not been attained.

"The prosecution case consists of such low quality material and an absence of independent, determinative evidence proving a number of these contested issues such that the threshold, the historic threshold of burden of proof which must be crossed, has not been attained."

Mrs Lakey denies a total of 13 counts of indecent assault over a three-year period, but admits to a relationship with the older one when he was 18.

The trial continues.