Teacher accused of tying boy to mattress ‘referred to as out husband’s identify throughout intercourse act’, court docket heard

WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: Teacher Deborah Franklin denies eight counts of gross indecency against the boy in the 1990s while he was aged between nine and 12 after allegedly subjected him to “repeated sexual activity”

A teacher accused of tying a boy to her bed and blindfolding him before an alleged sex act had been “trusted” by his family, a trial heard.

Deborah Franklin, 65, who taught at a preparatory school in Hertfordshire, denies eight counts of gross indecency against the boy in the 1990s while he was aged between nine and 12. Franklin became the boy’s private tutor and allegedly subjected him to “repeated sexual activity”, jurors at St Albans Crown Court have heard.

Prosecutors say that she took her clothes off in front of the boy, kissed him, got him to touch her and performed multiple sexual acts at his house and hers. Franklin, of Radlett, Hertfordshire, denies this took place, saying she could not remember tutoring the boy.

Prosecutor Gavin Pottinger said the complainant alleged that on one occasion, Franklin, who was married at the time, tied him to her bed and blindfolded him.

He told jurors the complainant alleged that during another sex act, Franklin allegedly called out her husband’s name. Mr Pottinger also said that others had seen her in his bed at his house with “no work being done”.

During his closing argument on Tuesday (July 28), Mr Pottinger asked jurors: “Have you heard any real reason for him to make this up?”

Mr Pottinger said that the “world has changed” from when the incidents are alleged to have taken place, adding that people were more “trusting” then.

He said that Franklin was often at the boy’s house, adding: “You know she was trusted because she was up there in the bedroom without an adult.”

The prosecutor told jurors that Franklin was a woman “whose boundaries were just not there”.

Defence barrister Aisling Byrnes said in her closing argument: “Sadly we know that from time to time people make allegations, even forceful, repeated, vigorous allegations that are simply not true.”

The barrister said that the complainant’s account has “too many difficulties” and “too much inherent unlikelihood”.

She asked jurors to consider when a “busy” teacher could have taken “the opportunity to carry out this sexual abuse”, adding: “How on earth did it happen?”

Ms Byrnes also said that the members of the complainant’s family were often at home, adding: “It’s so unlikely that anything happened in that bedroom.”

She said: “There was nothing to stop (the complainant) complaining about this to everyone and anyone”.

The defence barrister later added: “This is, in essence, at heart a case of one person’s word against another.”

Judge Kamran Choudhry, giving his legal directions to the jury, said that prosecutors say the complainant, now in his 40s, has “consistently recounted the substance of the allegations over many years to many people”.

The complainant reported the alleged incidents to police in 2024, the court heard. The judge said: “(The prosecution) say those disclosures are broadly consistent with the account he now gives.”

He added that the defence’s case is that Franklin’s relationship with the boy was “entirely proper” and not “unusually close and inappropriate”.

The defendant, giving evidence on Monday (July 27), told jurors it was “quite common for teachers and parents and children to socially interact”.

The court heard that Franklin had told police during an interview that she could not recall tutoring the boy, but that “little bits have come back” from looking at old photographs and talking with her legal team.

She added: “Things pop into your mind, I’ve had a long time time to think about it.”

Mr Pottinger asked: “Did you in fact remember (the boy) a good deal more than you are admitting to?”

The defendant replied: “No.”

Mr Pottinger asked: “You are choosing, still choosing, not to remember anything that happened in those years aren’t you?”

Franklin replied: “No.”

Ms Byrnes asked the defendant if there was “any truth” in the allegations that she sexually touched the boy during tutoring sessions.

Franklin replied: “No.”

The defendant told jurors that it would not have been “unusual” to be in a pupil’s bedroom or on their bed while tutoring them. Mr Pottinger told jurors on Tuesday that Franklin “is not telling you the truth”.

The jury has retired to consider its verdict.

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