Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Disgraced teacher's affair with pupil, 16, emerged after fellow student 'tried to blackmail her for sex'

 Eleanor Wilson was struck off from teaching after the allegations emerged

Kenza Bryan
Monday 31 July 2017 13:16 BST
Ms Wilson is thought to have joined the Royal Navy since the affair
Ms Wilson is thought to have joined the Royal Navy since the affair (Facebook)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Friends of a boy who had drunken sex with his physics teacher on a plane have revealed more details about the affair.

Ms Eleanor Wilson, 28, was found to have had oral and full sex with her 16-year-old pupil by a professional conduct panel last week.

The pupil bragged about sleeping with his teacher during a school charity trip to Swaziland and showed fellow students the pair’s sexts, according to a friend.

“He enjoyed telling me all about his time in Swaziland as you could go to a store and buy whisky for next to nothing,” the friend told MailOnline.

“He said they had sex a lot on the trip to Africa and on the flight back.”

The friend also said that the boy had already slept with 15 women before his teacher and that she would text him messages like “Can’t talk now, I’m in a meeting” or “I’m nervous about a presentation for assembly”.

Ms Wilson was struck off from teaching after a two-day National College for Teaching and Leadership hearing found her guilty of all but two of the allegations made against her.

The unnamed boy from Bristol, referred to only as Pupil A, had been on a two-week charity conservation trip to the southern African state in July 2015.

He had been helping build a kitchen for orphans of parents who had died of HIV as part of a World Challenge Expedition for which he had fundraised £2,595 over 18 months.

The panel heard that Ms Wilson and Pupil A drank miniature bottles of wine before having unprotected sex in the plane toilets on the flight home.

The relationship was said to have continued on their return, despite suspicious questions from the school’s head teacher.

It was not discovered until March 2016 when the teacher was blackmailed for sex by another pupil.

Email exchanges seen by the police and the boy’s school showed the other pupil, known as Pupil C, threatening to reveal what he knew if the teacher did not sleep with him.

Polly O’Malley, chairman of the professional conduct panel, said: “There was evidence that the teacher’s actions were deliberate and continued for a significant length of time despite her understanding that her behaviour was inappropriate.

“These behaviours include serious dishonesty and serious sexual misconduct.”

Ms Wilson, who was sacked in May 2016, was not present at the panel hearing but has previously denied the allegation, saying the two just “hugged on occasion”.

Her brother, Jethro Wilson, told MailOnline he thought his sister was a victim of being “good looking” and that the story had been made up.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in