A DRAMA teacher was yesterday found guilty of grooming a 13-year-old female pupil for sex.

Caroline French, 38, was on trial at Preston Crown Court, accused of targeting the pupil while teaching at a Blackpool secondary school.

French, originally from Darlington, denied the allegations, saying she was not gay and that her former pupil was lying.

However, a jury found her guilty of three acts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child.

Andrew Nuttall, defending, said a custodial sentence would follow, adding that French’s career was ruined and that her life was in tatters.

Richard Howarth, prosecuting, said French began a relationship after she stepped in to stop the girl being bullied.

He said the victim was vulnerable because her mother had a drinking problem and at the same time was questioning her sexuality.

The offences took place from 2002 to 2004.

Mr Howarth said that French started giving the girl lifts home from school, and it developed further with the girl staying at French’s home.

He said she “plied, or certainly gave, the complainant alcohol”.

He said it was at that time, when the girl was 14, that they had a “French-type” kiss.

Later the pair had “intimate sexual contact”.

The relationship finished when the girl was 17.

French went on to have a relationship with another girl who she taught at a different Blackpool school, the jury was told.

The girl moved into French’s home in Lytham St Annes, near Blackpool, when she was 16 and a sixth-form student.

They then began a sexual relationship that lasted three years and the girl even changed her surname to French.

French, of St David’s Road North, Lytham St Annes, said the girl was her lodger.

She was bailed to return on May 13 for sentencing.