Teacher denies sex with pupils

A DRAMA teacher has told a court she was not a lesbian and had not had sexual relationships with two female former pupils.

Caroline French, 38, said both the ex-students were liars and that a fellow teacher and another pupil were also not telling the truth when they claimed she had confessed she was gay.

French, of Darlington, is accused of grooming one of the former students by plying her with alcohol and cigarettes after stepping in when the then 13-year-old was being bullied at the secondary school in Blackpool, where she taught.

It is alleged they went on to have a sexual relationship between September 2002 and April 2004.

Preston Crown Court heard French denies three acts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child.

A jury was told French went on to have a sexual relationship with another girl she taught at a different school in the Lancashire resort.

The case continues.