WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: Former prep school teacher Deborah Franklin, 65, has been jailed at St Albans Crown Court for seven years after being found guilty of gross indecency against a boy she tutored
A teacher has been jailed after tying a young boy to her bed and blindfolding him before carrying out a sex act. Deborah Franklin, 65, who taught at a preparatory school in Hertfordshire, was found guilty of eight counts of gross indecency against the boy in the 1990s while he was aged between nine and 12.
Franklin, who was in her 30s and married at the time, became the boy’s private tutor and subjected him to “repeated sexual activity”.
She was sentenced seven years in prison at St Albans Crown Court today (October 1) by His Honour Judge Choudhry, who said her offending involved a “profound abuse of trust”.
Prosecutor Gavin Pottinger told the sentencing hearing that Franklin “took the opportunities provided by her role and the trust placed in her to repeatedly abuse (the boy)”.
Aisling Byrnes, mitigating, said Franklin lived an “exemplary life” and continued to teach in the years after the offences were committed. She added that her client “maintains her innocence”.
The court was told that during one sexual encounter in the garage at the complainant’s house, Franklin took off her clothes and asked “do you want to touch me?”.
On another occasion, at her own house, Franklin tied him to her bed, blindfolded him and tickled him, the complainant said. The accuser also said that during one sex act, Franklin called out her husband’s name.
It was said she took her clothes off in front of the boy, kissed him, got him to touch her and performed multiple sexual acts.
Franklin of Radlett, Hertfordshire, had denied all the charges and claimed she could not remember tutoring the boy.
The trial heard that after Franklin began tutoring the boy privately, she would visit his house and invite him to hers. The court heard that the complainant said that he had “no memory of work ever being done” during tutoring sessions.
The complainant viewed Franklin as “young” and “high energy”, who “presented like a mate” and spoke about drugs, cigarettes and sex, the court heard.
In a statement read out in front of the court, the victim said: “I have carried the abuse with me throughout my life, it has been a constant shadow.
“My life has been shaped by what happened to me when I was a nine-year-old boy.”