Former PE teacher faces lengthy jail term for sexually abusing pupils

A former PE teacher is facing a lengthy jail sentence for grooming and sexually abusing three pupils at two schools.

Bronwen James, 30, admitted offences against two girls at schools in Hampshire and Wiltshire and was found guilty by a jury of charges involving a boy.

The Crown Prosecution Service described James’s crimes as “a sustained pattern of predatory behaviour against children in her care” and praised the teenagers she targeted for coming forward.

Judge James Bromige asked for reports to be prepared on James so that he could assess the danger she posed when sentencing her later this year. Her defence team said she knew she faced a significant jail sentence.

During her trial at Winchester crown court, jurors were told that James, from Chippenham in Wiltshire, flirted with a 16-year-old boy in class at a school in Southampton.

They began exchanging Snapchat messages and arranged for her to drive him to a promenade, where they kissed in her car.

Later they went to her house where they cuddled while watching the Wimbledon tennis championships on the television before going to her bedroom where they had sex. She told him she loved him and wanted him to move away with her.

Edward Culver, prosecuting, told the trial the school was made aware of the incident after another student showed a teacher some text messages apparently sent between the James and the complainant.

He said: “They suggested a sexually charged relationship. He [the boy] was named as ‘number 8’ in the messages as a cover. She acted not only in an unprofessional and overfamiliar way, but failed to recognise any boundaries, exploiting her position to engage in sexual activity with one of her young students.”

In a police interview, the boy said he had been “groomed” by the defendant.

James was convicted of three counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.

Before the trial, James pleaded guilty to offences against two girls. One was a pupil at the same Southampton school as the boy, the other attended a school in Wiltshire that James had also taught at.

The offences included sexual activity with a child, sexual communication with a child and making an indecent photograph of a child. The victims were 13 and 14 at the time.

During legal argument, which can now be reported, it also emerged that at the start of her career, James received a warning while she was teaching at the private Seaford college in West Sussex for giving her personal mobile number to a pupil.

Bethany Adams, of the CPS, said: “Bronwen James was trusted to educate and protect children. Instead, she used that trust to groom and sexually abuse three students.

“James manipulated her victims with calculated precision, exploiting her position of authority to isolate them and normalise the abuse.

“This was not a lapse in judgment; it was a sustained pattern of predatory behaviour against children in her care.

“The courage shown by James’s victims in coming forward has been instrumental in securing this conviction. I hope it gives them, and their families, some measure of justice.”