Teacher accused of having sex with pupil in plane toilet could face retrial after jury fails to reach verdict

Eleanor Wilson was on trial accused of having drink-fuelled sexual intercourse with teenager on British Airways flight

A teacher accused of having sex with a student in an aeroplane toilet as they returned from a school trip could face a retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict.

The panel of four men and six women was discharged after deliberating for 10-and-a-half hours over three days in the trial of Eleanor Wilson at Bristol Crown Court.

Judge Peter Blair QC, the recorder of Bristol, stopped the trial after the foreman informed him there was not a “realistic prospect” of reaching majority verdicts on any of the four charges of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust that Ms Wilson faced should they be given more time.

Judge Blair told the panel: “I am going to discharge you now from returning verdicts on this indictment but can I extend my grateful thanks to you on behalf of the court service for all the work you have been doing for the last three-and-a-half weeks.

“This happens from time to time. Every year I keep a spreadsheet of trials that I do and the outcomes that there are and each year there are quite a number of juries that have the same perfectly legitimate outcomes as this, what we call a hung jury.

“It is part of the system and you shouldn’t in any way beat yourselves up about it.”

Virginia Cornwall, prosecuting, asked for seven days for the Crown Prosecution Service to consider whether it wished to seek a retrial.

Ms Wilson, 29, was on trial accused of having drink-fuelled sexual intercourse with the teenager on a British Airways flight home from an overseas camping trip in August 2015.

It is alleged the teacher, then aged 26, kissed and cuddled the boy before “beckoning” him into the toilet where they allegedly had sex before returning to their seats.

She is also accused of seeing the boy outside of school where they allegedly kissed and cuddled on three separate occasions, after a meal at Nando’s and trips to Tintern Abbey and Ashton Court.

Ms Wilson told the court the boy had imagined the incident in the toilet and also denied holding his hand and kissing him during time alone, insisting there was “no truth whatsoever” in the allegations.

Ms Wilson, of The Rope Walk, Dursley, Gloucestershire, was released on unconditional bail.

Additional reporting by Press Association