Teacher GUILTY of blindfolding and tying boy, 10, to her marital bed to have sex with him over four-year period

A TEACHER has been found guilty of blindfolding and tying a ten-year-old boy to her bed to have sex with him over a four-year period. Deborah Franklin, 65, blindfolded and strapped the pupil to her bed so she could sexually tickle him with a feather. Deborah Franklin arriving at St Albans Crown Court, Hertfordshire Credit: PA Franklin, 65, blindfolded and strapped the pupil to her bed Credit: PA The married prep school teacher met the victim, now in his 40s, when he joined her class, aged nine. Franklin – then aged around 30 – later became his private tutor and went on to have “countless” sexual encounters with him. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! She has been found guilty of eight counts of gross indecency with a boy under 14 between 1991 and 1995 at a preparatory school in Hertfordshire. He described “countless” encounters in which Franklin would tie him to her marital bed, blindfold him, tickle him with a feather and then have sex, the court heard. The teacher – who was married at the time – subjected him to “repeated sexual activity”, prosecutors told a trial at St Albans Crown Court. Jurors heard that she took her clothes off in front of the boy, kissed him, got him to touch her and performed multiple sexual acts. Franklin, of Radlett, Hertfordshire, had denied all the charges, saying she could not remember tutoring the boy. She was emotionless in the dock as the verdicts came back. Most read in The Sun The defendant was remanded into custody and told by Judge Kamran Choudhry that she faces a “high possibility” of being jailed at her sentencing on October 1. The court heard that Franklin was regularly at the complainant’s house, with his sister telling jurors of the defendant: “She was fun, she was charismatic. I thought she was cool.” The boy viewed her as “young” and “high energy”, who “presented like a mate” and spoke about drugs, cigarettes and sex, the court heard. Franklin was “trusted” by the family to be in the boy’s room during tutoring sessions, prosecutor Gavin Pottinger said. But Franklin was a woman “whose boundaries were just not there”, Mr Pottinger added. The court heard that the defendant was once seen by the complainant’s sister under the covers of her brother’s bed. The sister told jurors that on one occasion, she found Franklin “under the covers reading a book to [the complainant]”. She described Franklin as “fun” and “charismatic”, adding: “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.” The sibling said her brother reported Franklin to the police after finding out she was still working at the same school in 2024. He told the court how he was in the garage of his home when Franklin asked him: “Do you want to touch me?” The boy continued: “She kissed me on the lips and we started to touch.” He also claimed Franklin referred to herself as his girlfriend and warned him they had to be “cautious”. Describing another alleged encounter, the complainant said: “She asked me to come on the bed. I think it was her marital bed. “I remember her tying me. Tying my arms down… She had a feather. Some kind of feathery gloves and fur. “She tickled me. I remember being strapped down to the bed and blindfolded. “She was surprised I didn’t enjoy it. Being bound to the bed it disturbed me in my teenage life when I began to understand what it would have been for her. “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. I remember us coming back to it later and having sex on her bed.” A former school friend told jurors Franklin and the boy had a “very close” and “flirtatious” relationship and would hold hands on school trips. Another friend said the pair would sit “very close” to each other when watching television. The court was told Franklin branded the allegations as a “lot of rubbish” following her arrest.