Jury considers verdict as topless Snapchat picture teacher denies pupil sex rap

Mum-of-three Kandice Barber, 35, is accused of having sex with a 15-year-old in a field and sending him topless pictures of herself on Snapchat.

A jury has retired to consider its verdicts in the trial of a teaching assistant accused of having sex with a 15-year-old student.

Kandice Barber, 35, of Wendover, Buckinghamshire, is accused of having sex with the teenager in a field and sending him topless pictures of herself on Snapchat.

The jury at Aylesbury Crown Court heard that Barber and the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had sex in a field in October 2018 after she approached him at a sports presentation evening the previous month and added herself to his Snapchat on his phone.

The student claimed the mother-of-three had told him he had a bigger penis than her husband and that she was pregnant with his child.

She was arrested after the boy revealed the relationship to the headteacher in March 2019 after naked pictures of Barber circulated around Princes Risborough School in Buckinghamshire, the court heard.

In her evidence, Barber said she had given the teenager her number so he could talk to her about any issues and denied the conversations were sexual.

She told the court she never sent him topless pictures of herself and claimed the My Eyes Only folder in her Snapchat had been hacked.

She said she became uncomfortable with the boy's phone calls and when she refused to have any contact with him she claimed he sent a message reading: "Watch what's going to happen, you're going to lose your job, you're going to lose your family."

In November 2018 Barber was off school for two weeks after suffering an ectopic pregnancy.

She denied ever telling the complainant the baby could be his, but said the fact that she had lost a baby was well known around the school.

Giving evidence in court, her husband, Daniel Barber, said they had been trying for a baby around the time of the alleged offences.

Barber denied three counts of causing or inciting a child aged under 16 to engage in a sexual act and one count of sexual communication with a child.

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She has also pleaded not guilty to one count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activities while in a position of trust, and one count of causing a child to watch a sexual act by a person in a position of trust.

The jury was sent home to return at 10am on Tuesday to continue deliberating.