Jury sent out in head teacher child sex trial

None of the charges relate to any pupil, past or present, at Mayflower High School

The jury in the trial of a former head teacher and his ex-wife - who are both accused of historical sexual offences against children - has been sent out to consider its verdicts.

Lee Brumby - who was head teacher at Mayflower High School in Billericay, Essex - denies two counts of rape and three other offences.

Elaine Brumby has denied six charges, including sexual assault and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

None of the charges related to any pupil at the school, past or present.

'Partner-in-crime'

In his summing up, Judge Richard Conley told the jury how Lee Brumby - 64 years old and from Wellands in Witham - had worked at other Essex schools prior to Mayflower, including Southend High School for Girls and St Clere's School in Stanford-le-Hope.

Mr Brumby had spent nine years teaching in Newcastle at Benfield School, the court heard, where he had been responsible for helping its GCSE results improve, and he had received several positive references from his previous jobs.

The jury at Southend Crown Court was told by the judge that Mr Brumby also briefly worked at a police force in the late 1980s during a break from teaching.

Mr Brumby had told the trial that "I'm struggling to know why these allegations have been made," Judge Conley said.

Ms Brumby, 62, from Kiln Way in Great Wakering, had worked at The St Christopher School - an academy special school in Leigh-on-Sea.

She had told the trial that she denied being a "partner-in-crime", Judge Conley added.

Mr Brumby is charged with two offences of rape of a child, two counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, and indecency with a child.

His ex-wife is charged with four offences of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, causing a child to engage in sexual activity, and sexual assault.

Judge Conley said that the pair had "vehemently" denied all of the allegations against them.