Teaching assistant is jailed for sex with boy

Caroline Berriman — jailed for having sex with under-age pupil

A CHADDERTON teaching assistant who admitted having sex with a pupil has been resentenced to jail by the Court of Appeal.

In September, Caroline Berriman (30) was handed a 24 month suspended sentence for having sex with a teenage boy on multiple occasions between April and July in 2014.

But yesterday, the Court of Appeal quashed the suspended sentence and instead imposed an immediate sentence of two year’s imprisonment for sexual activity with a boy under the age of 16.

The original sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentences Scheme by the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP.

He said: “Caroline Berriman, who worked as a trusted classroom assistant, groomed and then took advantage of a teenage boy, plainly abusing that position of trust. I referred the case to the Court of Appeal because the original sentence failed to fully reflect the ages of the defendant and the victim.

“I am therefore pleased the Court of Appeal imposed a two-year immediate prison term on Berriman which should reassure the public and send out a strong message that teenagers of both genders have a legal right to be protected from grooming and sexual interference.”

In September the Chronicle reported how Berriman had an affair with the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, while working at Abraham Moss Community School in Crumpsall, Manchester.

She was initially suspended when the allegations were first made and has now left the school.

Berriman pleaded guilty at Minshull Street Crown Court to two counts of sexual activity with a child and a further charge of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust. As well as the suspended sentence she was told to complete 250 hours of community work and ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge.

Berriman was also made subject of a restraining order which bans her from seeing or contacting the victim, who has since left the school.

The court heard that Berriman engaged in oral and penetrative sex with the student knowing he was unable to consent as he was under 16.