Hannah McIntyre cleared of sex with pupil charge
19/04/2010
Hannah McIntyre, a Classics teacher at Merchant Taylor School in Liverpool, was charged with having sexual intercourse with a pupil who at the time was 16 years old. On Thursday, last week (15th April 2010) at Liverpool Crown Court she was acquitted by the jury of this very serious offence.
It was alleged that Ms McIntyre, who admitted buying alcohol for the complainant and his friends (all of whom were underage), was a willing participant in dare games which culminated later that evening in sexual intercourse with the complainant.
The defendant adamantly denied the allegation and insisted that not only had the boys turned up uninvited but that they refused to leave when asked. The presence of three large boys in the confines of her small house she said was intimidating and far from having sexual intercourse she had had a panic attack. When she woke up in the morning the boys had gone.
Ms McIntyre agreed that wanting to be a 'cool teacher' who was liked by her pupils she allowed herself to be persuaded by the boys to take the rap for what took place and had 'stupidly' reported to the headmaster an edited version of events. Following a disciplinary hearing in which she was given a formal warning and the matter was laid to rest until some eleven months later when the complainant, at risk of expulsion from school, complained to his mother. His mother reported the matter to the school who in turn informed the police.
Ms McIntyre accepted that she had handled events badly and that she had shown poor judgment on more than one occasion. However as defence counsel, Mary McKeone , (Garden Court North Chambers,) said in her closing speech to the jury, 'poor judgment is not a criminal offence.' Ms McKeone added, following the jury's verdict, 'this was a difficult case in which the stakes where high but the jury clearly gave meticulous attention to it.'
Miss McIntyre was represented by Mary McKeone of Garden Court North Chambers and Paula Porter of Thompsons solicitors.
Media coverage
> 15/04/10 - Classics teacher Hannah McIntyre cleared of having sex with pupil - (The Times online)
> 13/04/10 - Teenager tells how Latin teacher Hannah McIntyre seduced him over game of dare - (The Times online)
> 13/04/10 - Drunken dares 'led to pupil's sex with teacher' - (BBC news online)
