Former PE teacher Bronwen James, 30, was found guilty of sexual activity with a 16-year-old boy after admitting offences against two girls. The case spans two schools in Wiltshire and Hampshire and now moves to sentencing later this year before Judge James Bromige at Winchester crown court.
The Crown Prosecution Service described her crimes as “a sustained pattern of predatory behaviour against children in her care”. James was facing a lengthy jail sentence for grooming and sexually abusing three pupils at two schools, with the court told that the victims were 13 and 14 at the time.
Winchester crown court trial
During the trial, jurors heard that James, from Chippenham in Wiltshire, flirted with the boy in class at a school in Southampton. They were told the pair began exchanging Snapchat messages and arranged to meet at a promenade, where they kissed in her car.
The trial then moved to what followed. Jurors heard that they later went to her house, cuddled while watching the Wimbledon tennis championships on television, and then went to her bedroom where they had sex. James told the boy she loved him and wanted him to move away with her.
James Bromige sentencing reports
Judge James Bromige asked for reports to be prepared on James so he could assess the danger she posed when sentencing her later this year. James was convicted of three counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust, while also having already pleaded guilty before trial to offences against two girls.
Those offences covered sexual activity with a child, sexual communication with a child and making an indecent photograph of a child. One girl was a pupil at the same Southampton school as the boy, and the other attended a school in Wiltshire where James had also taught.
CPS statement on Bronwen James
Edward Culver told the trial that a teacher became aware of the messages after another student showed the school text messages apparently sent between James and the complainant. He said the messages suggested a sexually charged relationship and that the boy was named as “number 8” in the messages as a cover.
At the start of her career, James received a warning while teaching at the private Seaford college in West Sussex for giving her personal mobile number to a pupil. Bethany Adams said: “Bronwen James was trusted to educate and protect children. Instead, she used that trust to groom and sexually abuse three students.”
Adams also said: “James manipulated her victims with calculated precision, exploiting her position of authority to isolate them and normalise the abuse.” For James, the practical next step is sentencing later this year, after reports on the danger she posed have been placed before the judge.
