Private tutor convicted for abusing student after messages found

Private maths tutoring ended disastrously for a teacher, resulting in accusations of sexual abuse of a student and a conviction. All of this came to light after the student's mother found certain messages on his phone.

37-year-old Holly Rouse-Sweeney was providing private maths lessons. However, she didn't stop at tutoring. The Nottinghamshire Police (United Kingdom) revealed that the 37-year-old not only conducted online lessons with the boy but also arranged meetings with him at her home in Nottinghamshire. During these meetings, there were sexual interactions between the teacher and the student despite the woman being fully aware that the boy was underage.

The case came to light thanks to the boy's mother, who discovered inappropriate messages sent by the tutor on his phone in May of last year. According to the BBC, the teacher was sentenced to six years of imprisonment last Friday. The Nottingham Crown Court pronounced the sentence.

The tutor admitted to two instances of sexual activity with the boy without penetration and four instances of inciting the boy to engage in sexual activity. The teacher argued that her actions were the result of a long-term mental illness she had been battling.

As per the court's decision, she will not only spend six years behind bars but has also been entered into the sex offenders register. The maths teacher has been legally forbidden from contacting the victim.

Child abuse specialist Detective Keeley Bringhurst stated that "this was an appalling breach of trust by a woman who had been trusted to spend time with a vulnerable child".

"Instead of teaching him mathematics, she cynically took advantage of him for her own sexual gratification. I know this abuse has had a significant impact on the victim and his family and I hope they will be comforted by this very strong sentence," the officer added, quoted by the "Daily Mail".