A chemistry teacher sexually abused a ‘besotted’ schoolboy after comparing herself to a model in a porn magazine, a court heard.
Sally-Anne Bowen, 64, allegedly flirted with the teenager at the north London comprehensive boys’ school, before having sex with him ’20 to 30 times’ in the late 1980s.
The teacher, then aged 25, also allowed another boy to touch her breasts and kiss her during lunch at a cafe near the school between 1986 and 1988, jurors at Harrow Crown Court heard.
Bowen, of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, is charged with six counts of indecent assault against the first boy, and two counts against the second – both of whom were aged 14 to 15.
She denies all the charges against her and claims she had a medical condition at the time which meant it was ‘impossible’ for her to have sex.
Prosecutor Madeleine Wolfe told the jury of eight women and four men: ‘The prosecution case is that when Ms Bowen worked at the school, that she engaged in flirtatious conduct towards these two boys and she encouraged and engaged in sexual relationships with them both and they were 14 to 15-years-old.
‘The sexual abuse was notably worse to the first pupil who she engaged in acts of sexual intercourse. With the second pupil the abuse was limited to inappropriate kissing.
‘The prosecution do not suggest Ms Bowen forced herself on either boy. Viewed superficially, these boys may have appeared willing to engage in flirtatious and sexual activity.
Sally-Anne Bowen, 64, allegedly flirted with one teenager at the north London comprehensive boy’s school, before having sex with him ’20 to 30 times’ in the late 1980s
‘But the prosecution remind you she was a teacher in a position of trust and authority. By flirting with them and engaging in sexual activity with them she exploited her position for her own sexual gratification.
‘As these boys were exploited in that way, any apparent agreement on their part was not genuine consent to the sexual activity. She denied any form of sexual activity, whether that’s kissing or sexual intercourse with either.’
When Bowen joined the school as a chemistry teacher it was her first job, the court was told, and she got to know the first victim despite him not being in any of her classes.
Ms Wolfe told the court Bowen made the boy feel ‘special’ and as if she had picked him ‘out of all the other pupils at that school’. He said they would spend lunchtimes together, sometimes with other pupils, and they would take the bus from school together.
‘As far as he was concerned, their relationship went to the point he thought she was his girlfriend – that he loved her and she loved him.’
One of the other boys at the lunches could have been the second victim in the case, the jury heard.
The boy told police the sexual relationship began in spring 1988 and lasted until August of that year.
He remembered a specific lunchtime when he and some friends were flicking through a porn magazine and Bowen took it off them. He expected her to confiscate it.
But Ms Wolfe said: ‘In fact, what Ms Bowen did was open the pages and pointed to an image of a naked woman and said that woman’s “p****” was similar to her own.’
Bowen denies all the charges against her and claims she had a medical condition at the time which meant it was ‘impossible’ for her to have sex
In a video interview, the boy told police: ‘I remember one incident before I actually slept with her. One of the other boys had stolen porn magazines and brought them into the cafe.
‘I grabbed one of the porn magazines, she said to me after all the other boys had left “Give me the magazine”… She pointed to a blonde woman. She pointed at her vagina and said “that’s what mine looks like.”‘
This led to the boy taking the bus home with her to Golders Green where they kissed in her flat, jurors heard.
On later occasions, Ms Wolfe said this progressed to Bowen using the boy to masturbate, then to having sex.
‘He said he never had sex before and she had to tell him [that they were]’, said Ms Wolfe.
The court heard the boy was a ‘regular visitor’ to Bowen’s house during the summer holidays in 1988, and he believed they had had sex between 20 and 30 times as well as performing oral sex on one another, but he was ‘not allowed’ to stay the night.
The boy also told police they had sex once at her friend’s house, and Bowen had once masturbated him while in a Tube carriage. He said he had ‘fallen in love’ with her.
He told the court on Wednesday that after he had sex with Bowen for a second time, she told him: ‘Well you’re definitely not a virgin now’.
Ms Wolfe said the boy remembered Bowen telling him the other teachers knew and she left the school.
By the summer the boy’s mother had become suspicious and called Bowen, who denied anything was going on.
He was sent to stay with his sister in the north of England and while he was away, his mother received ‘a number of calls’ from ‘a woman’ on the landline, who she realised was Bowen.
The boy returned after a week and the couple resumed their relationship, prompting his mother to call the school. She was told Bowen was no longer working there with ‘no reason or explanation given’, jurors heard.
The last time they had sex, Bowen told the boy she was leaving the UK to stay at a kibbutz in Israel which left him feeling ‘abandoned and confused’.
He told the court: ‘I just think she wanted rid of me. I’ve been thinking that for a number of years.
‘It’s going to sound silly but I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t want to admit I was hurt.’
The boy first disclosed the alleged abuse – including details about the cafe lunches and sex – to a partner, now his wife, who told him to go to police, which he did in 2014.
When Bowen was interviewed in 2015, she said the boy was a ‘bit of a nuisance’ and ‘besotted’ with her and followed her around – sometimes shouting ‘let me come home with you.’
On one occasion, she recalled him following her home to Golders Green and putting his foot in the door and asking to come inside – but she claimed she never let him in her flat.
Ms Wolfe said: ‘Ms Bowen told police any account of a sexual relationship between them was just pure fantasy. It never happened.’
Bowen agreed she had gone to a pub where sixth formers went, but said this was never with the boy and she did not know if he was there.
She denied being sacked and said she left the school because it was ‘a lot of hassle’ and she got ‘unwanted attention’ from other staff members and pupils due to her being one of the only female teachers.
‘She said she had no idea why he would make up the allegations,’ added Ms Wolfe.
Bowen was interviewed again in 2024 when she denied the claims, including the magazine incident, but said she thought the complainant had a crush on her because he sat next to her on the bus and said she was his best friend.
As a result of the allegations, Bowen faced a Teaching Regulation Authority hearing in 2022.
The second pupil read about the TRA hearing online and came forward after encouragement from his wife and family. He was interviewed in 2024 when he recalled ‘young and attractive’ Bowen, who he also spent lunchtimes with.
He claimed he was ‘goaded’ by classmates into kissing her. Ms Wolfe said: ‘He would lean towards her and she leaned forward to kiss him.’
He also remembered touching her breasts and putting his hand near her crotch – to which ‘she would not react negatively’, said Ms Wolfe.
‘He recalled occasions when they were discussing porn magazines. She was flicking through the content engaging in an inappropriate chat with the pupils.’
The second boy said he would also walk home with Bowen, and recalled ‘a number of occasions’ when they kissed.
‘He is clear this was not a deep or passionate kiss… but what the prosecution say is it was repeated and inappropriate sexual behaviour towards a pupil she can’t not have noticed was attracted to her,’ said Ms Wolfe.
Bowen told police she could not remember the second complainant, denied kissing him, and said she always dressed professionally.
She also claimed to have a medical condition – a vaginal septum – that made it ‘extremely painful’ and ‘impossible’ to have sex during the period the allegations relate to.
Ms Wolfe added: ‘The prosecution case is not that she used force with these two teenagers. The prosecution case against her is that she exploited her position of power over them. She engaged them in conduct they were not able to at that age understand or really consent to.
‘Young as she was, she was not their peer and not entitled to treat them as adults. She was a teacher entrusted with the care and welfare of her pupils.
‘The fact Ms Bowen was and is a female does not make the conduct she engaged in any less serious. These were boys aged 14 to 15. They were children. She was an adult in authority. The law protects children from sexual exploitation whatever the sex of the adult or the child.
‘It’s not whether the boys appear flattered or besotted at the time, it’s whether Ms Bowen crossed the boundaries which exist to protect them.’
Bowen, defended by Mark Kimsey, denies eight counts of indecent assault.
The trial continues.
