Reading private school teacher denies sex with teen pupil

Fiona Carrier, now 61, was said to have had sex with the young teen at her home in the 1990s after plying him with alcohol and food, Oxford Crown Court heard.

The defendant, described as an ‘inspiring’ and ‘unconventional’ teacher with music ‘in every fibre of her being’, denies multiple counts of indecent assault.

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Opening the case to the jury in Oxford this week, prosecutor James Keeley said the complainant was in his early teens when he began taking piano lessons from Carrier, then known by her surname Wiggins.

“During lessons, which were originally at school, the defendant spoke about sexual matters with [him] and became physically closer to him,” the barrister said.

“Lessons then progressed and were held at the defendant’s home and when [he] was there, what the defendant would do [was] she would give him alcohol with an accompanying meal before forcing sexual interaction with him, ending up with [sex] in her bedroom and this happened on about eight occasions.

“And certainly he was an unwilling participant. He uses language, saying he thought he was being raped and after suffering and trying to come to terms with the consequences of this abuse for many years, eventually he decided to go to the police and tell them what had gone on.”

Mr Keeley told jurors in his overview of the case that, during the piano lessons at the school, the defendant had allegedly placed her hand on the pupil’s back and she would ‘discuss her recently ended marriage’.

Later, she was said to have invited the boy to her home in Goring. “It was on the first lesson with the defendant that things became sexual. This was the first time they kissed.”

It was alleged that Carrier ‘pinned’ the complainant down and ‘encouraged’ the boy to touch her, Mr Keeley said. The woman allegedly told him: “You’ll not regret this, learning from a real woman.”

The pair were said to have had sex eight times, the jury was told as Mr Keeley opened the case. “It followed the same ritual: music, wine, food, then ending up in the defendant’s bedroom.”

“The defendant would tell the complainant that age was no barrier to intimacy and the lessons he was receiving, that she was giving him in her bedroom, were a privilege and what he was learning would stay with him for the rest of his life,” the prosecutor told the jury.

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The jurors were told that Carrier was interviewed by detectives after the complainant – now a grown man – approached the police. She said the boy kissed her first, that she ‘didn’t see that coming’ but had returned the kiss.

Mr Keeley summarised the interview: “There was another occasion when they were sexually close, kissed and had a fumble and touched each other.”

The barrister alleged that Carrier’s interview with the police saw her ‘adopt what the prosecution say was a confess and avoid approach’, accepting some wrongdoing but not all that she was accused of having done.

Cross-examined by defence barrister Jack Talbot on Wednesday morning (May 31), the complainant denied instigating a first kiss with his teacher or that it was used by him to exert ‘control’ over the older woman.

He said he ‘did not honestly recall’ telling his friends that he had kissed the musician and asked aloud from the witness box: “Why would I lie?”

Giving evidence via video link later on Wednesday afternoon, a contemporary of the complainant’s at Blue Coat school recalled being told by the boy about some ‘sexual contact’ between his friend and the piano teacher. “I don’t remember him being scared in telling me,” he said.

The jury was told that Carrier had ‘socialised’ with her pupils. One described a group of them returning to her home after a local gig in which a school pop band had played.

Carrier, of Bucklebury, Berkshire, denies indecent assault.

The trial continues.