Indian-origin teacher jailed for sex with pupils

LONDON - A 37-year-old Indian-origin woman was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment for having sex with two teenaged students in Britain.

Hina Patel, who worked as a classroom assistant and swimming teacher at Birkdale High School in Merseyside, admitted two counts of sexual activity with a child at North Sefton Magistrates’ Court last month. She was sent to Liverpool Crown Court for sentencing.

According to the Sun, Patel invited the youngsters to her home, where she had sex with one boy then the other just a few hours later.

During her sentencing Tuesday, Martin Decker, prosecuting, said the single mother of two was employed to provide support and supervision for pupils who had been disruptive in class.

Decker told the court how she came to meet the two boys in February this year and during a one-to-one supervision she exchanged mobile phone numbers with them.

Describing an exchange of text messages between Patel and one of the boys, Decker said: “Initially she was being friendly and saying he was a ‘good lad’ but after about four days the content became sexual.”

“The boy described the texts as being normal at first and then ‘weird’. After about a week she invited the boys to her house,” Decker told the court.

Patel collected one boy in a hired car as the other made his own way to her home where they watched DVDs, the court was told.

“In his police interview the boy said she started touching him and kissing him and this led to sexual intercourse. The boy was asked how he felt about this and he replied that it felt ‘weird’,” Decker said.

The youngster left the house about an hour later leaving Patel alone with the other boy.

The pair arranged to meet on a second occasion but the boy changed his mind after Patel picked him up and got out of her car, Decker said.

He told a friend he had sex with Patel and the friend was later arrested after burgling the teacher’s home. That boy told Youth Justice officials about Patel’s relationship with her pupils and the police raided her house.

They seized her mobile phone which contained text messages from the boys which included “the police know everything” and “don’t tell people”.

Gary Loveridge, head teacher of Birkdale High School, said Patel was never employed as a swimming teacher by the school and did that job separately to her work at Birkdale.