A teaching assistant was spared jail after admitting having a sexual affair with a 15-year-old schoolboy. Caroline Berriman, now 30, admitted what she’d done last year.
In an interview with the Sun the boy, who is now aged 17, claimed Berriman groomed him while he was a pupil at the Abraham Moss Community School in Manchester.
The boy – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – alleged that their relationship started while Berriman was working as a classroom assistant in his lessons. Although the pair did not have a sexual relationship for five months, he admitted they regularly had unprotected sex after this.
“It must have happened over 50 times in the space of those few months,” he told the Sun.
Shockingly, he also claims that Berriman introduced him to her two-year-old daughter who started to call him ‘dad’.
Their relationship came to light when Berriman became pregnant and the boy confided in his brother. His mother later found out and threatened to go to the police.
Berriman first went to court in July but the case was adjourned due to her falling ill.
However, when she was sentenced this week, she escaped jail by pleading guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a child. She also pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.
Her sentence is suspended for two years and Berriman is facing a £100 victim surcharge bill and 250 hours of community service.