A teacher who had an affair with a 16-year-old pupil yesterday told of the ‘ten days of madness’ which culminated in her spending the night in his bed.
Married Bernadette Smith, 35, kissed and cuddled Gary Ralston after the teenager’s father invited her into their home – but said she kept a tiny vest top on and did not have sex with the boy.
Yesterday the mother of three blamed her husband Brian’s continued deceit over an affair which had resulted in a love child for triggering her own sordid behaviour with the teenager.
She learned of his infidelity only when the Child Support Agency began chasing him for maintenance.
The English and history teacher claimed she started her affair after trying to be a ‘positive influence’ and help Gary.
She said: ‘There never came a point where I thought I was attracted to him. I just knew I was thinking about him too much.
‘We were starting to have conversations which went beyond what should be said between a teacher and a pupil. He told me things about his home life, and, stupidly, I started to tell him about the problems in my marriage.
‘I want to say sorry to Gary. I only became interested in him because I wanted to help him. I wanted to be something positive in his life and I ended up being the opposite.’
Smith was handed a two-year supervision order last week and has been put on the sex offenders’ register after admitting to engaging in sexual activity with a pupil while in a position of trust last September.
Smith revealed how she told Gary – who waived his right to anonymity in his own interview last week – at school that she had developed feelings for him.
They later drove to a local park, spending ‘hours’ talking and kissing in her car. Within days, they had kissed again, but Smith was unaware that Gary had told his father Richard, whom he lived with, about the relationship.
In Saturday’s Daily Mail, Mr Ralston admitted to being ‘a bit’ proud of his son for catching the attractive teacher’s eye and said he felt sorry for her when she was arrested.
But Gary’s grandmother complained to the school and the police were brought in.
Smith was suspended and left the marital home, going straight to the Ralstons’ house in Cowie, Stirlingshire.
Mr Ralston – who separated from Gary’s mother, Carol Morgan, when the boy was a toddler – allowed her into his son’s bedroom, where the pair spent the night together, though both insist they did not have sex.
Smith said: ‘I took off my T-shirt and lay on his bed. I had a wee vest top on underneath. He was under the covers but I wasn’t. We did kiss that night as well.’
‘There never came a point where I thought I was attracted to him. I just knew I was thinking about him too much’
Bernadette Smith
She was arrested the next day – after going to Gary’s home again. Smith, of Denny, Stirlingshire, claimed her marriage to her childhood sweetheart – which is now over – began crumbling in 2009 when the Child Support Agency requested maintenance for a boy her husband had fathered with another woman.
