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A teacher accused of having sex with her teenage pupil has been cleared of all charges.

Deborah Lowe, 54, was on trial at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester where she denied five counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.

The prosecution had alleged that sex began when the boy was 16 - and although old enough to legally consent, Lowe broke the law by having sex with him when being a person in a position of trust - his teacher.

But the jury, who were out for two hours and seven minutes deliberating, found Lowe not guilty of all five counts on Tuesday.

Lowe wiped away tears as she was told she could leave the dock and was free to go by the judge, following a seven-day trial.

She had admitted having sex with the teenager, after being "flattered" by the attention of the boy and was having a "midlife crisis" when they began a relationship.

The divorcee said at the time she had become interested in meditation and yoga, visited Bali, sold her flat in suburban Cheshire and given up her job as head of pastoral care at a high school to go travelling in India to "explore her faith".

But she maintained the relationship with the boy, 35 years her junior, only became sexual after he had left school and he was aged 17.

Earlier, the court heard that in a jokey WhatsApp message to a friend Lowe told her she was not having sex with the boy and described herself as a "mother" figure.

But she added: "...If not in the too distant future he wants to discuss the merits of an older woman I will be there for him" followed by emojis of a bottle of baby oil and a pair of handcuffs.

The teenager had told the jury after "flirting" at school they swapped phone numbers and first engaged in phone sex before sexual encounters in her home, car and caravan.

A former air hostess who has worked in education for 14 years, Lowe told the jury sex first took place after he contacted her around December 2016 - three months after he left school, and she took him to her flat in the Stockport area of Greater Manchester.

The relationship continued into 2017 with more secret liaisons.

Lowe, who has a daughter, aged 28 and a son, 20, said later she felt, "mortified and embarrassed" over her "foolish infatuation" and denied being "sexually obsessed" with the youngster.

A single allegation of having sex with a child, when the complainant was aged 15, was withdrawn by the prosecution during the trial and the judge instructed the jury to return a not guilty verdict on that charge, after the boy gave evidence which suggested he was 16, not 15, when he first had sexual contact with Ms Lowe.

The defendant, of Elm Beds Caravan Park, Poynton, Cheshire, had denied five counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust said to have taken place between September 14 2015 and June 30 2016.