A TEACHING assistant who sent saucy pictures to a schoolboy 43 years her junior has been spared jail.

A judge told Elaine McKay, 58, of Banister Close, Clacton, it had been an appalling breach of trust.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard McKay, a mum-of-two and gran, is now regarded as a figure of fun and is jeered at by people on the streets of Clacton.

She got no sympathy from Patricia Lynch QC, who handed her a suspended prison sentence, a 200-hour unpaid work order and a fiveyear ban from working with children.

She said: “This has caused you considerable distress and upset, and the loss of your reputation and career, but frankly you deserve that.

“This was appalling behaviour by a woman of your age – a serious breach of trust.

“You are the subject of derision and you deserve it.

“Parents should be able to trust teachers with their adolescent children.”

The court heard a boy, 15, sent McKay an indecent image of himself and she responded with similar images on her phone and the internet.

Gary Pons, prosecuting, said matters came to light when some of the teenager’s friends saw the lewd images.

Word got to teachers at the 1,700-pupil Clacton Coastal Academy and police were told. An investigation revealed a McKay had sent a string of lewd images, including posing with a cucumber and performing a sex act.

She admitted causing a child to look at sexually explicit images and was handed a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was told to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. She has been banned from working with children for five years.

Maria Dineen, mitigating, said intense media scrutiny of the case has caused McKay and her family untold distress, including being jeered at in the street.

She said: “She accepts she has let everybody down, her employers, her family and herself. She accepts it was a gross breach of trust and has expressed genuine remorse.”

McKay declined to comment after the case.

She was suspended by the school and resigned on August 12 before any disciplinary action.

In a trial last month she was cleared of having sex with the teenager, who cannot be named as he is the victim of a sexual offence.