A teacher from the United Kingdom broke down in tears this week as she was finally cleared after being accused of sex crimes three years ago by a 15-year-old student who was “obsessed” with pornography.
Devastating final two pars in ST piece on accused teacher Rebecca Whitehurst. The choice of wording by GM police could not be more wrongheaded in this context pic.twitter.com/CRjSIeHvUQ
— Charlie Moloney (@CharlieMoloney) July 17, 2022
Teacher Accused Of Sex Crimes
The Mirror reported that Rebecca Whitehurst, 46, had been accused by a 15-year-old student of performing a sex act on him in the back of her car after they allegedly met in Fallowfield, Manchester. The student also alleged that she had touched his penis on another occasion and that she had communicated with him over WhatsApp for her own sexual gratification.
Whitehurst, who is married and has two children, has long denied the claims, alleging that the unnamed student made up the allegations after she invited him to one of her “‘mindfulness sessions” in the hopes of helping him with his mental health issues. Daily Mail reported that she had been a teacher of modern languages at the time she was accused.
After three long years of dealing with these allegations, Whitehurst broke down in tears and mouthed “thank you” to the jury as they took just three hours to acquit her of two counts of sexual activity with a child and one of sexual communications.
Whitehurst’s Side Of The Story
Whitehurst had told the Manchester Crown Court that she began communicating with the boy after noticing that he seemed “visibly upset” in school. She initially emailed him via the school system that he should attend one of her “mindfulness sessions,” and he responded by sending a ghost emoji, indicating that he wanted to talk to her over Snapchat.
“He told me he didn’t want to tell me on email as he didn’t trust it,” she told the court. “I sent him an email with my Snapchat username for him to find me so that he could tell me what the secret was. The secret was that he was in love with me.”
Whitehurst went on to say that she felt like a “complete idiot” and “very very gullible”, telling him she would report it. The boy allegedly responded by saying that he “thought of killing himself,” leading her to fear what he would do if she cut him off. The teacher attempted to end the conversation multiple times, but he would “reel her back in” after “sensing she was redirecting.”
Whitehurst Was ‘Scared’
Whitehurst admitted that she was “scared” after “breaking the cardinal rule” by sharing her non-school contact details with a student, and before long, the situation escalated.
“He came to my room and he stuck his tongue down my throat,” she recounted, adding that he would touch her in intimate areas and began “slapping her round the face and spitting at her at least ten times.”
“I felt I had done something wrong,” she said, adding that she did not report the alleged incidents because she, “thought she would be held responsible as I’m the adult and he’s the child. I was embarrassed and ashamed that I mismanaged the situation.”
The boy eventually gave Whitehurst a necklace, which she tried to give back to him.
“I didn’t want anything from him. I wanted him to leave me alone,” she said. “I wore the necklace on a couple of occasions as I was worried he would kick off at me – I tried to reduce the opportunities to make him angry.”
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Student Speaks Out
The court saw a video in which the boy claimed that Whitehurst “knew what she was doing,” though on another occasion he said she had just “made a mistake” and admitted that he had a “crush” on her. Jurors were told that the student liked to watch “MILF” pornography, an acronym which stands for “mother I’d like to f***.”
When asked if she had tried to stop the boy from pursuing her, Whitehurst told the court, “Yes, I told him on so many levels that it was inappropriate.’
“I told him nothing like that is ever going to happen, it was a complete misunderstanding and it was never going to happen,” she said. “He was angry and told me it was a mistake to give him my Snapchat username, that he could do what he wanted and the school would believe him.”
Whitehurst had denied all charges from the beginning, and she declined to speak to reporters as she left court with her husband after being cleared.