A MATHS teacher has been jailed for eight months after admitting sexually touching a teenage girl.

Aimee Jones struck up the illicit relationship through text messages with the girl before they started to meet up in local parks where they 'held hands and kissed'.

Teesside Crown Court heard how on one occasion the teacher and the teenager ended up topless in her car and hidden only by a blanket.

The 35-year-old admitted four counts of abusing a position of trust by engaging in sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 17 being cared for in school premises between January 2020 and March 2021.

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The court heard how Jones told the girl that she was bisexual and attracted to her before exchanging mobile phone numbers.

Jon Harley, prosecuting, said: "The couple went on to walk in the more remote parts of the park or sit in the rear of Ms Jones car. They kissed, they embraced and on one occasion they both removed their upper clothing and were naked from the waist up.

"This was always accompanied by, what is described as, intense pre and post texting with Ms Jones acknowledging that what she was doing was wrong and taking risks.

The illegal relationship continued until Jones, who has a young son, admitted to her husband that she was having an affair.

However, she at first claimed it was with a female teaching assistant at the Darlington school.

Mr Harley said Jones attempted to persuade the school to pretend their was a fictitious teaching assistant at the school after her husband challenged her about the affair.

However, the prosecution accepted that the story was not to undermine the police investigation.

In a victim impact statement, her mother said: "I have come to worry that in the future she will come to realise her relationship with Ms Jones was a betrayal of trust rather than the loving, supporting relationship that she perceives it to be and when the enormity of the abuse becomes apparent to her I'm sure she will not only need our support again but also professional help in the form of counselling."

Robert Mochrie, in mitigation, said her client had not groomed the teenager or shared sexually explicit photographs with her but understood that the relationship was inappropriate.

Jones, of West Road, Richmond, was jailed for eight months for all offences.

Judge Chris Smith said he accepted the defendant's genuine remorse but told her that an immediate custodial sentence was inevitable.

"They were not overtly sexual messages but they make it plain that you were interested in her, that you found her attractive and that was profoundly inappropriate," he said. "You met her on a number of occasions and your conduct towards her became increasingly sexual."

Jones was also made subject of a ten-year notification order to ensure the authorities can monitor her behaviour.

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