Sobbing primary school teacher jailed after molesting students aged 11 and 12

14 June 2022, 16:14

A primary school teacher has been jailed for three years after she was found guilty of sexually abusing two schoolboys in her care.

Carol Ann White, 39, of Uddingston, near Glasgow, sobbed as her sentence was handed to her after jurors took just over an hour to find her guilty following a seven-day trial.

The disgraced teacher was convicted of molesting an 11-year-old and 12-year-old pupil at two primary schools in Scotland over a near two-year period and was placed on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

Graham Robertson, who was representing White at Tuesday's sentencing, said: "Even as of today's date, Ms White is consistent with her position and she has always denied the overtly sexual nature of the charges.

"There has been a massive breach of trust and she knows that."

Police discovered the teacher had been messaging a 12-year-old boy with special educational needs during lockdown.

An investigation revealed a total of 1,185 texts had been exchanged over a three-week period between the pair which included eight indecent images of the child and inappropriate images of herself, with one captioned "cockblock of the year goes to Covid-19".

The disgraced teacher asked the 12-year-old to touch himself intimately whilst on a Facetime call and later kissed the boy up to 50 times during a school trip.

In police interviews, the victim said White had groped him and forced his hand down the front of her trousers saying: "Miss White said if you touch me I will touch you and then grabbed my hand and put it down her trousers. It happened once."

Read more: Social worker, 25, 'exploited' teenage boy in her care and invited him round for sex

Police discovered the predator had also abused an 11-year-old boy at another primary school who revealed during interviews that White had kissed him in a school cupboard on one occasion and also held his head against her groin and rubbed him with her breast.

The 11-year-old boy told the court: "We were talking about football because she is a big Celtic fan and the kiss just happened.

"For the last year I've felt like I had to protect her because I thought she was this nice person but she really wasn't.

"If you were Miss White's teacher's pet then she would favour you. It felt quite good. Looking back I feel disgusted."

White denied two counts of engaging in sexual activity with the boys between August 2018 and May 2020 but was convicted by a jury following one hour of a deliberations after a seven-day trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court.

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She cried uncontrollably following the verdict and during sentencing.

Depute fiscal Kevin Jarvis said: "By day she was a respectable teacher, by night she was discussing sexual innuendos with a 12-year-old pupil before reverting back to a respectable adult again.

"She was the master of deceit."

Speaking after the sentencing, the mother of one of the victims said: "Concerns had been raised in the school about her being overly familiar with pupils but yet she was allowed to move on and target a vulnerable boy.

"The whole thing is shocking and I feel as if I've had no support for the last two years."