Brant admitted one count of sexual activity with a male aged 13-17 and was given an 18-month community order

A teaching assistant sent a teenage boy a picture of a sex toy and offered to perform a sex act on him if he told her he 'loved her', a court heard.

Donna Brant, 37, exchanged 'explicit' texts with the youngster and 'enjoyed the attention' after the pair sent 2,500 messages.

She even joked that if staff at The Windsor Boys' School where she worked found out about the messages she 'would go to prison'.

Donna Brant, a 37-year-old teaching assistant at Windsor Boys' School (pictured), exchanged 2,500 explicit texts with a teenage boy and sent him a picture of a dildo

The court heard how on one occasion she said she would perform a sex act on the boy if he told her he 'loved her'.

The messages did not stop until a family member of the teenager, 'concerned about a change in his behaviour', accessed his phone and saw some of the messages.

Reading Crown Court heard Brant sent him a picture of a dildo when 'their discussion turned to what sex toys she had in her drawer'.

Brant, of Windsor, Berkshire, admitted one count of sexual activity with a male aged 13-17, for explicit texts she exchanged with a boy in 2015.

She has now quit her job at the all-boys upper school after being suspended following the investigation.

Rebecca Austin, prosecuting, said the messages 'became very explicit, very quickly'.

She said: 'Jokingly or otherwise, she [Brant] made reference to the fact that if they [her employer] found out, she would go to prison.

'On one occasion she said she would perform a sex act on the boy if he told her he loved her.

'Whilst it was clear that the messages were instigated by the boy, they are encouraged by Brant. She did that because she enjoyed the attention.'

Ed Butler, defending, said she had 'enjoyed the attention' but added it would be hard to see how the text messages 'could have given anybody sexual arousal'.

He said: 'It really is impossible to overstate the extent to which she has already suffered for this very serious, but not sinister lapse of judgement.'

You accepted that you had sent the message and you said that they were flirty and joking. I have read some of the messages and it is clear some of them are of an explicit nature. Judge Alexia Durran

He added that at the time of the offence Brant was living at her parents' house with her family while her house underwent renovations and her mother was diagnosed with cancer.

Sentencing Brant, Judge Alexia Durran, said: 'You accepted that you had sent the message and you said that they were flirty and joking, and you denied pertaining any sexual gratification.

'I have read some of the messages and it is clear some of them are of an explicit nature.'

She also said the victim has been 'left feeling out of place and paranoid' since the offence.

Brant was given an 18-month community order with a 15-day rehab requirement and 180 hours' unpaid work.

She was also ordered to pay £85 in costs and an application has been made to put her on the sex offenders register.

Gavin Henderson, headteacher at The Windsor Boys' School, said Brant was suspended from the school immediately and later resigned.

He added as soon as the school was aware the teaching assistant was involved in 'a situation', it alerted the police.