December 2012 Ware care worker jailed for having sex with pupil A SPECIAL school principal walked in on a woman care worker who had been having sex with a boy – the same age as her son. Amanda McNally, 41, was found hiding behind a bed with the half naked teenager, who has the mental age of a 13-year-old in a room at the East Hertfordshire school, St Albans Crown Court heard on Tuesday. Prosecutor Michael Speak said when the principal walked in he saw a silhouette behind the bed. The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, emerged topless before McNally appeared saying they were looking for a paint brush to decorate his flat The next day, the teen admitted having sex with the care worker more than twice his age and that it had happened on previous occasions.  He told police: “She was being nice but she took advantage of me.”  Mr Speak said McNally, who has a 17-year-old son of her own, had worked as a house care assistant at the school for three years. The role was described by the principal as one of “surrogate parent”. Describing some of the duties, Mr Speak said: “Her responsibilities were to get the children up, prepare their breakfast, to get them to have a wash and clean their houses and do the shopping. At half past three they would return from school and her duties would be to make tea.”  The ordeal had left the teen insecure, suicidal and unable to sleep. He said: “She said she was my friend. I can’t trust her. Now I am in a black hole.” McNally, of Watton Road, Ware gave no comment in police interviews But she later admitted sexual activity with a child while in a position of trust. Stephen Requena, defending, said before McNally was caught on Wednesday February 22, she sent the boy a text saying the relationship should end. The relationship was the only happiness in her life at the time. She separated from her husband in 2005 and divorced in January after he said he wanted to marry another woman. Character references by family and friends described her as “caring and loving,” he added. Jailing McNally for 14 months, indefinitely banning her from working with children and ordering her to sign the sex offenders register for five years, Judge Stephen Warner said: “You were in a position of trust. You befriended him and his family. It was not an isolated incident and only stopped when you were discovered. “This was a highly inappropriate relationship. He was 17, you were 41. He was vulnerable and compliant. You took advantage to enter into this relationship. You knew it was wrong but you persisted.”