Private-school teacher cleared after lying pupil accused her of sex session

Hannah McIntyre, 25, pictured, was accused of seducing the 16-year-old boy after plying him with cider.

But a jury took just 75 minutes to dismiss the youth's claims and find her not guilty.

Miss McIntyre, originally from Falkirk, Stirlingshire, smiled broadly as the verdict was delivered following a four-day trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

Judge Robert Warnock immediately told her she was free to leave the dock and she ran into the arms of her boyfriend and parents Irene and Harry, who had supported her throughout the trial.

Miss McIntyre described her mood as ecstatic and added that she needed a large drink and "to sleep for a week".

Asked if she was angry about the false allegations, she added: "Anger is not first among my thoughts right now. But he has, with no accountability, made an accusation and I would like to see him have to realise the effect he has had on me."

Miss McIntyre had worked at the 8,000-a-year Merchant Taylors' Boys' School in Crosby, Merseyside, one of the best-performing independent schools in the country.

She said her teaching career was now in tatters but declined to say what her future plans were.

Miss McIntyre, described in court as a shy student teacher and an "easy target" for disruptive children, added: "Merchant Taylors' has been incredibly supportive. It is an exceptionally good school and I thank the witnesses from the school who spoke on my behalf."

Her mother said it had been an "unbelievably" difficult time for the whole family. She said such allegations had always presented a "hazard" for those in the teaching profession.

Mrs McIntyre said: "It has always been there but I think it has become more of an obvious hazard."

Within weeks of starting at the school, where Miss McIntyre taught A-level Latin and Ancient Greek, she found herself unable to control some of the students in her classes.

The court was told that a significant minority of the 16 and 17-year-old boys would mock her 5ft height and Scottish accent, giving her the nickname the "Jock Dwarf".

Four months after she started working there, the boy and two schoolfriends called round to her home.

When she asked the boys, who at 6ft towered over her, to leave her flat, they ignored her.

Miss McIntyre told the jury she even agreed to buy them bottles of cider in the hope that they would then leave her alone.

In the end, she told the court, she went to bed, leaving the boys downstairs in her living room.

One boy followed her to the bedroom, and she said he poked her with his finger and made "sex noises" before he collapsed, drunk, on the floor.

It was almost a year later, in December 2008, that he claimed that they had sex.

The boy claimed to his mother he had sex with his teacher shortly after he was suspended for a third time in six months for being disrespectful to female teachers and using violence against other pupils.

Miss McIntyre's defence argued the allegations were invented by the youth, now an 18-year-old undergraduate, to gain sympathy from teaching staff and ensure he was able to continue with his A-levels and go to university.

In a statement, the school said: "Merchant Taylors' Schools note the verdict of the court in finding Miss Hannah McIntyre not guilty, and are pleased that this long process has finally been brought to a conclusion.

"Miss McIntyre was dismissed from Merchant Taylors' Boys' School in the autumn of 2009, although there is an appeal pending against this decision.

"The school cannot comment further in order to avoid prejudicing the outcome."