December 2004 Teacher jailed for lesbian affair A teacher who had a lesbian affair with a 15-year-old pupil at her school has been jailed for 12 months. Justine Rowe, 34, from Sandhurst in Bracknell Forest, Berkshire, spent the night with the teenager on a school trip to Manchester during the affair. She admitted four counts of engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust during 2002. She was banned from working with children and put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years. Secret meetings Sentencing at Reading Crown Court, Judge Zoe Smith said she was a “disgrace” to her Berkshire school, which cannot be named. The victim was 15 when Rowe, who taught the girl English GCSE and Sport History, first began sending her texts, the court was told. Abigail Husbands, prosecuting, said the pair began seeing each other secretly in Rowe’s office and in the classroom at lunchtimes and breaktimes. After they agreed they would both be interested in starting a relationship, Rowe told the girl “they would have to keep quiet” and wait, either until the pupil had left the school or at least until she had turned 16 in April of the following year. But over the Christmas break the text messages continued between the two and on the first day back at school the pair kissed in Rowe’s office, the court heard. The resulting relationship ended in early 2003 but it was not until May this year that the girl told her parents what had happened, the court was told. Immediately the school and the police were informed and Rowe resigned at once. She was arrested in May. Judge Smith said Rowe’s actions had “distressed” the girl’s parents, “disgraced” the school and had left her victim “confused”.