A MARRIED teaching assistant has been spared jail after admitting to a two year fling with a teenage pupil during which the pair exchanged around 3,000 WhatApp messages.
Charlotte Parker, 32, pleaded guilty at Basildon Crown Court today (October 13) to engaging in a sexual relationship with the pupil at Hylands School in Chelmsford.
A tearful Parker was handed a 12-month sentence, to be suspended for two years.
Judge John Lodge said: "This is a case of gross child abuse. People who work as teaching assistants of whatever gender who take on victims of whatever gender commit a very serious offence indeed.
"It makes no difference that he might well have felt that he was in a relationship with you, the law is there to protect vulnerable people from others who might take advantage of their youth, of their naivety, of the fact that they might feel flattered that somebody older is taking an interest in them."
'Baby, did I kiss you too much'
Parker, of Ravens Lane, Billericay, admitted four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child while in a position of trust, including kissing, encouraging him to perform a sex act on himself over social media, and performing oral sex on him.
She also admitted two counts of making indecent photographs of a child.
The court heard how the pair bonded when the victim gave Parker a Christmas card, who suffers from a long history of psychiatric problems, while she was working in classrooms at the Chelmsford school.
The pair went on to exchange the thousands of WhatsApp and social media messages, which included comments such as "You have had your hands everywhere", and "baby, did I kiss you too much."
The relationship was only discovered after the student confided to a family friend, who in turn arranged a discussion with his parents who subsequently contacted police last September.
Prosecutor Austin Stoton added: "The victim had explained to the family friend prior to that talk that he had been seeing this defendant for two years.
"He was aware she was married, and 'she had bad mental health problems'.
"He told him they were in love and thought one day they would buy a house together."
Parker was ordered to sign the Sex Offender's Register for 10 years, and told to undergo treatment for her mental health problems.
She no longer works at the school.
