A teacher who had sex with a 15-year-old pupil in the back of her BMW appeared to be grinning as she left court.
Siobhan McLean, 33, had been head of support at a secondary school in Lanarkshire, where she had met her victim.
She had been helping an unnamed family member apply for university courses, and taking study classes that the boy attended.
But the teacher, from Airdrie, contacted the boy on social media after his family member left school, and began exchanging messages with him.
A mother-of-one, McLean then arranged to meet at a university union, where they had a night out drinking alcohol, reports the Daily Record.
When they went back to her flat, they began kissing, which led to her having sex with the 15-year-old.
Days later she arranged to see him again before they had sex in the back of her BMW in a secluded car park at Craignethan Castle near Blackwood, Lanarkshire.
The boy’s mother was alarmed when she heard him saying “I love you” on the phone. While he claimed he was talking to a friend, she confiscated his phone and revealed intimate messages between him and the teacher.
Police were called in, and McLean admitted to engaging in sexual activity with the boy in September last year.
She was ordered to to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work and be put under supervision for three years.
She will be tagged for 12 months and is banned from having unsupervised contact with children other than her own, as well as being put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and added to the list of those unsuitable to work with children.
McLean is also forbidden from contacting her victim or his family members for five years.
Despite narrowly missing jail, the convicted sex offender appeared in high spirits as she left her luxurious home, smiling as she answered the door – although slammed it shut when asked to speak.
Gary McAteer, defending, said: “The accused has self-destructed her life by acting in the way that she did. She has lost her career, her reputation and her standing and faces the possibility of being separated from her child and husband.
“This was two events over a period of days and her reaction to it was to be physically sick and she recognised how damaging this period has been.”
Sheriff Murphy said: “You pled guilty to a serious offence involving a significant breach of trust. In the criminal justice social work report you were able to recognise the impact of this on the victim and his family.
“Taking into account all of the circumstances, I’m satisfied that there is an appropriate way to deal with you by way of an alternative to a custodial sentence but this should not detract from the gravity of your conduct.”
