Every single month, two teachers are banned from English schools for having sex with pupils.
In the light of these shocking statistics, This Morning’s Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby have sat down with ‘Jack’.
The young boy - who has chosen to remain anonymous - is the victim at the centre of the latest case involving 30-year-old teaching assistant Caroline Berriman - who escaped jail after repeated sexual activity with one of her pupils.
‘Jack’, who was 15 at the time, said: “She started coming into my classes doing one to one tuition… it was just talking at first.
“The [text] messages increased from ‘hi, how you doing?’ to talking all through the day even when I was in lessons. It carried on and got more serious.”
When asked if he had a crush on her, ‘Jack’ admitted: “At the time, yeah. She made me feel like I was special and didn’t treat any other pupil like she treated me.”
As the texts became more flirtatious, things soon became physical.
He said: “During the Easter holidays in April she rang me and asked what I was doing and if I wanted to go up to her house. She picked me up and took me back to her house. We just watched TV and talked and chatted about stuff… just chilling out the first time. Then it just kept on happening. I started going four or five days a week after school and on the weekends.”
It was around this time that their relationship became a physical one.
He told Phil and Holly: “She kissed me and I kissed her back. And then things lead on to sexual stuff…
“I was overwhelmed with the situation, like it was too good to be true… [but] she said that I had to keep it secret because if anybody found out she would lose her family, she’d lose her daughter and she’d get into serious trouble.”
After a while, the teenager found that the relationship was affecting his confidence and his schoolwork - and he attempted to call it off.
However Caroline reacted badly when he tried to end things between them, leaving him forced to ask his mum for help.
“[Mum] was mortified. She didn’t know what to say... She didn’t want to make me upset and emotional about what I’ve been going through. She just sat me down and said ‘look, you have to end it, it’s against the law’.”
He added: “I couldn’t deal with it… I can’t look at a girl anymore… or be in the same room as a woman on my own. My confidence is just broke, I used to be confident and have girlfriends, and I’m now just shattered.”
Caroline Berriman has been given a two year suspended sentence and 250 hours of community work.
But, when asked what he thought of her punishment, ‘Jack’ said: “I think it’s disgusting. I want to get this out there… I want people to understand that even though they might not have seen or heard what happened, I want it to be out there for the main reason that I never want it to happen, I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.
“I totally don’t agree about why she got what she did.”
He added: “I’d say to others - it is against the law - and if you are or if they have broken the law then they should be punished. No matter how scared you are and how fragile you are, they should come forward and talk to people.”