A teacher accused of having sex with a 10-year-old pupil ‘countless’ times was found under the covers with him by his sister, a court heard.
Deborah Franklin, 65, allegedly blindfolded and strapped the boy to her marital bed for hours so she could sexually tickle him with a feather during a years-long campaign of abuse.
She faces eight allegations of gross indecency against a boy under 14, between 1991 and 1995 – when she was a teacher at a preparatory school in Hertfordshire.
Franklin is said to have met the alleged victim, now in his 40s, when he was nine and joined her class.
He claims they had ‘countless’ sexual encounters, and said he was led to believe that he was in a relationship with Franklin – who was around 30 when the alleged abuse began.
The man said in a recorded interview: ‘I remember her clothes were off and she was teaching me how to touch a woman, and I remember saying: “It smells funny”… I remember her just telling me what to do and I would just do it.’
The complainant’s siblings gave evidence to St Albans Crown Court on Wednesday, and recalled the teacher spending a lot of time at their house.
His older sister told jurors that on one occasion she found Franklin ‘under the covers reading a book to [the complainant]’.
Deborah Franklin, 65, is accused of eight counts of gross indecency against a boy aged under 14 between 1991 and 1995
Describing her impression of Franklin back then, she said: ‘She was fun, she was charismatic. I thought she was cool, I liked her. She was very likeable.
‘She was in the house often. She became a family friend. She came on Saturday afternoons. I saw her quite a lot.’
Asked if she had suspicions of anything untoward, she said: ‘I knew something had happened, he told my dad.’
She said that her brother had reported Franklin to the police after finding out she was still working at the same school in 2024.
A former school friend remembers Franklin and the complainant having a ‘very close’ and ‘flirtatious’ relationship, such that they would hold hands on school trips.
Another friend said the pair would sit ‘very close’ to each other when watching television.
They said: ‘He would sit very much in Mrs Franklin’s arms, as you would see a boyfriend and a girlfriend sitting together, and at moments tickling his arm.
‘There was a lot of laughing, talking, whispering. I felt very much outside of it. I felt left out, that was my best friend.’
Describing their gradual realisation of Franklin’s alleged abuse, the friend said: ‘The first detail I got is that Mrs Franklin got naked in front of him.
Franklin denies all of the charges brought against her
‘He said that they had kissed, that he had touched her, that she had performed some sexual activity on him but not saying what. I would say that that was the extent of the detail.’
The complainant’s older brother giving evidence in court also remembered Franklin as ‘always pleasant, with energy, very cool’, and ‘someone you would be happy to hang out with’.
He recalled that Franklin used to watch TV with his brother, and spend time in his bedroom, and that his brother went to the teacher’s house on at least one occasion.
The brother said Franklin once invited him to accompany her to a heavy metal gig, and that she made a comment about anal sex.
He told the court: ‘She turned back to look at me. She made a comment about anal sex. I asked if her husband likes it.
‘She told me pillows are very important, because it allows you to go deeper if you have sex with pillows.’
Gavin Pottinger, prosecuting, asked him: ‘Did [your brother] ever tell you that anything had happened between him and Debbie?’
He replied: ‘It came up a lot that something had happened. He never told me the details, and I never asked for them. It came up over a lifetime. It came up consistently in different contexts.’
Describing the first alleged incident in his garage, the complainant said: ‘She kissed me on the lips and we started to touch.’
On the progression of the alleged incidents, he continued: ‘There was a ton of manipulation obviously, but at the time it did not present like that. At the time it was like: I am in a relationship. I’m your girlfriend. We have to be cautious.
‘I remember her clothes were off and she was teaching me how to touch a woman and I remember saying ‘It smells funny’ and she was getting all defensive saying ‘That’s how women smell’. I remember her just telling me what to do and I would just do it.
‘I remember her distinctly calling out her husband’s name. It took me by surprise. I never saw their relationship. I thought I had the relationship. I remember thinking I had a competitor.’
He described ‘countless’ sexual encounters in which married Franklin would tie him to her marital bed, blindfold him, tickle him with a feather and have sex with him.
He said: ‘At the time, I don’t think I was terrified. I wasn’t. I don’t remember being scared.
‘But it began to bother me when I was around 14… I was tied to the posts, blindfolded and she was tickling me naked and I remember her being surprised I didn’t enjoy it. Her kind of quizzing me why I didn’t enjoy it, what I didn’t like.
‘I was there for some hours,’ he said.
‘I remember us coming back to it later and having sex on her bed.’
Questioned in her police interview Franklin said: ‘It’s a lot of rubbish, I’m sorry, but it’s not true, and I don’t understand why someone would say such dreadful things. I’m stunned, shocked.’
She said of the complainant: ‘I don’t remember much about him. He moved onto the next school like any other child.’
Franklin, of Radlett, Herts denies eight counts of gross indecency with a boy under 14
The trial continues.
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