Ballet teacher spared jail after abducting boy of 15 to pursue 'inappropriate relationship'

• Sarah Pirie has been given a suspended sentence for flouting a ban on contact Picture: PA

Sarah Pirie, 27, committed a "serious breach of trust" when they met and she gave her pupil Reece Washington a lift in her car a week after she was banned from having any contact with him.

The teacher, who has appeared as an extra in TV soaps including Hollyoaks, was yesterday handed a suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to charges that she abducted the talented ballet student without lawful consent.

Pirie, who worked as the boy's teacher at the Clifton Dance Academy in Lytham St Anne's, had gone "past the boundaries" of her employment, Judge Michael Byrne warned at Preston Crown Court. She was sentenced to 35 weeks in prison, suspended for two years.

It also emerged that the dancer, who was born in Dundee but brought up in England, had given the victim a lift in her car a week after she was banned by a formal notice order under the Children's Act from having any contact with him.

The defendant had previously been accused of having sex with the boy on five occasions, but prosecutors decided in November to offer no evidence on those allegations and a "not guilty" verdict was returned on those counts.

Ms Pirie, who now lives in Luxemburg, yesterday said she looked forward to "carrying on with my life in peace".

Reece - who was not named in court, but waived his anonymity after speaking to a national newspaper - has claimed that the pair became close after Pirie started to give him a lift home after ballet lessons.

Colleagues repeatedly warned her to stop going beyond the teacher-pupil relationship by getting involved in his personal life, but she allegedly began to give the boy, who lived with foster carers, lifts to Manchester to visit relatives.

Prosecuting, Sarah Johnston told the court that Pirie had been suspended by her employer in April 2009 and was warned not to have any with further contact with Reece while an investigation began into the relationship.

She was served with a formal notice order under the Children's Act a month later, which prohibited her from further contact with the boy. But just days later, she gave the boy a lift to Manchester, insisting he had contacted her and was "manipulative and threatening".

The pupil, who had reportedly believed he was gay for some time before meeting Pirie, has claimed that his teacher, who was 11 years his senior, had talked to him about her personal problems, before telling him: "I just feel like nobody loves me."

Reece, now 17, claimed she had kissed him - and their relationship had developed. He has previously claimed the pair had sex in the back seat of Pirie's car, and stayed overnight in Manchester hotels with Reece's cousin sleeping in the next bed - all charges Pirie has denied.

Background

DUNDEE-BORN Sarah Pirie, 27, once had a promising career as a dancer. Brought up in England after her parents split up, she trained at the prestigious Hammond School in Chester and won television roles in the soap operas Hollyoaks and Waterloo Road.

Also said to be a talented choreographer, she has starred in and produced pantomimes and musicals across the UK, while she is said to have worked at other dance schools, in Manchester and Wales.

But it was when Pirie took a job as a teacher at the Clifton Dance Academy that things began to go wrong.

Reece Washington was a talented pupil, but with a troubled past. He lived with foster carers and, Pirie's counsel said in court yesterday, but was unhappy. The pair began a close relationship, Pirie shuttling him to visit relatives in her car.

She had a boyfriend of nine years, who is thought to have accompanied her to court on one occasion, but she allowed herself to begin a friendship with 15-year-old Reece, despite warnings from colleagues.

The teacher had originally been charged with five counts of sexual activity with the boy between March and June of 2009, and had pleaded not guilty to all counts. But on the day of the trial, after discussions between prosecution and defence barristers, only the single charge of child abduction was put to the defendant, to which she pleaded guilty. The court was told yesterday that Reece had accepted that sexual activity had not taken place.

"This young woman is attempting to claw back her life after being put through the press attention and the accusations made against her which the Crown and the complainant now accepts never took place," defence counsel Sarah Booth insisted yesterday.

Pirie agreed. "Me and my family are relieved that the truth regarding these allegations have come to light, and that Reece accepts there was no truth in these allegations that there was a sexual relationship," she said.

It is not known where she plans to live. Her father, reportedly a former British ambassador, is believed to run a large sheep farm near Leuchars, Fife, while her stepfather is an accountant working in the banking industry in Luxemburg, where Pirie is thought to have been living since leaving the north-west of England.