Yorkshire teacher who had sexual relationship with pupil is banned from the classroom

Aimee Jones, who lives in Melsonby, near Richmond, started the relationship with the teenage girl when she was teaching science and maths at a school in Darlington.

She sent texts to the girl, arranging to meet up in the County Durham area and engage in sexual activity, but also acknowledged that what she was doing was wrong.

The 36-year-old mother-of-one was arrested at the school and suspended in March last year, after her husband, who is a social worker, reported her to the police.

He originally believed she was having an affair with an adult female teaching assistant at the school.

Jones was jailed for eight months at Teesside Crown Court last year, after she pleaded guilty to four counts of abusing a position of trust by engaging with sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 17.

A Teacher Regulation Agency misconduct panel reviewed her case and ruled that she should be banned from teaching indefinitely.

In a report, the panel stated “prohibition was both proportionate and appropriate” as Jones’s “extremely serious” offences involved sexual activity with a child and a clear abuse of trust.

It added: “The panel considered that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if conduct such as that found against Mrs Jones was not treated with the utmost seriousness.”

Jones has been told she can logde an appeal against the ban within 28 days.