Hertfordshire teaching assistant jailed after having sex with boy

Hannah Harris, 23, from Henlow in Bedfordshire, taught at a Hertfordshire school and developed a relationship with the boy while she was aged 21 at the time.

Harris tricked the boy’s parents by texting them claiming to be the mother of the boy’s fictional girlfriend and she also exchanged social media messages with the boy and met up outside of school.

This included her driving him to supermarkets “to buy him his favourite sweets”, taking him to McDonald’s and letting him smoke cannabis in her car.

The court also heard that Harris had been warned at least twice by a fellow member of staff about “inappropriate conversations” and flirtatious behaviour, including an incident of “play fighting” with a pupil.

She was convicted at St Albans Crown Court

Harris was caught when the boy’s older brother found out about the relationship in January 2020 and his parents soon became aware.

The 23-year-old denied four charges of sexual activity with a child in December 2019 and January 2020, but was convicted on February 7 this year of one count of having sex with the boy in a supermarket car park.

Judge Caroline Wigin jailed Harris for six years on Wednesday, adding that she would be placed on the sex offenders register “indefinitely”.

The judge told Harris she found that her behaviour was an “abuse of trust”, “constituted grooming” and “significant planning”.

Hannah has been jailed

Detective Constable Liam Hanrahan, who led the investigation, said: “This has been a long and extensive investigation, with Harris initially being arrested back in early 2020. Harris initiated a sexual relationship with the pupil, who was 14 years old at the time, which continued for several months.

He continued: “Her behaviour was entirely inappropriate, and clearly breached the position of trust and responsibility she held as a teaching assistant at the time.

“She clearly would have known his age and knew that she was committing a criminal offence.

“I hope she uses her time in prison to reflect on her behaviour, and the impact that it will undoubtedly have on her victim.”