A British teaching assistant who showed a 15-year-old pupil her collection of sex toys and handcuffs has been convicted of grooming and sexual activity with a child.
Melanie Rock, 34, was found guilty by a jury in just under two hours last week after a trial that laid bare months of inappropriate contact with the student at Medina College on the Isle of Wight. Rock worked as a communications support assistant at the school when she began messaging the boy on Instagram, prosecutors told the court.
The teenager had been removed from class for bad behavior when Rock first reached out to him online. Their digital exchanges soon spilled into real-world meetings, with Rock giving the boy around £50 in cash on at least one occasion before taking him back to her home.
Once inside her bedroom, Rock invited him to “enjoy her room” and pointed him toward a drawer containing handcuffs, black see-through lingerie and sex toys, the boy told investigators in a police interview played to the jury. He described feeling uncomfortable when Rock gave him what he called a “koala hug” after asking him to lie on her bed to vape.
Rock also showered the teenager with gifts during their secret meetings. She bought him disposable vapes and spent nearly £400 on clothing from Trapstar, a London-based streetwear label popular with teens.
The pair’s downfall came when they were spotted together at a Pizza Hut by another teacher from Medina College. Rock immediately tried to cover her tracks, telling the boy in a panic: “We need to make something up, because if he sees us I’m going to lose my job.” She then lied to her colleague, claiming the 15-year-old was her godson.
The ruse failed. The suspicious teacher reported Rock to school officials, who confronted her about the relationship. Afterwards, Rock fired off a desperate message to the boy: “F–k, I’m f–ked, I’m going to be sacked now they found out.” She begged him never to mention her name again.
Police arrested Rock at the school two days later. During questioning, she insisted she had met the boy by chance and only took him to Pizza Hut because he was hungry.
Rock took the stand at trial to defend herself, offering a maternal explanation for her continued contact with the student outside school hours. “I’m a [mom], I care, I care too much, I was trying to keep an eye on him,” she told the court. She denied any sexual intent and insisted there had been no physical contact between them in her bedroom.
The jury rejected her account after deliberating for less than two hours, convicting Rock on both counts of sexual grooming and sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust. She was taken into custody following the verdict.
Rock is scheduled to be sentenced in December.