A HIGH school support teacher took a 13-year-old pupil as her lover for out-of-school sex sessions, a jury heard.

Zoe Susanne Morgan, the mother of a 10-year-old girl, took advantage of the boy, knowing he would not complain, a court was told.

Morgan, who was said to have to have a tattoo on each thigh, allegedly bombarded the boy with text messages and calls and even committed a sex act on him the day after his mother challenged her about the relationship.

She even left her boyfriend and moved house after she started seeing the boy, the court was told.

Morgan, 32, pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual activity with a child, between September and November last year.

She said the 13-year-old and his friends had threatened to tell her school colleagues they had had sex with her unless she agreed to let them hang out at her house.

The jury heard the defendant, of Leigh Park, Hapton, was working as a support teacher/mentor at Barden High School, Burnley, when the six-week relationship began.

The 13-year-old told Burnley Crown Court that Morgan asked for his phone number after bumping into him in the school corridor and later told him she loved him.

In his police video interview, the teenager said he had fancied the teacher and told her. Asked by an officer about sex with Morgan in her bed, the schoolboy said he had enjoyed it. He added: "She said it was good."

Kate Blackwell, prosecuting, told the court that the defendant helped with children with behavioural problems and learning difficulties.

She said the first time anything sexual happened between Morgan and the boy was when she was driving her Alfa Romeo car on Disraeli Street, Burnley.

She said the 13-year-old was with friends, she stopped, and he got in and asked for a kiss.

The defendant replied: "Not with an audience," drove off, stopped and kissed him on the lips.

Shortly after, Morgan drove to TK Maxx car park, she suggested they climb in the back and she then performed a sex act, the court was told. Miss Blackwell said over the next month there were a series of evening meetings, with Morgan taking the 13-year-old and his friends to her home.

She said Morgan's long-term partner was away and had no idea what was going on and her daughter was staying at Morgan's mother's home.

The boys would listen to music, sometimes smoke cannabis and play Twister, suggested by the defendant, she said.

She said Morgan and the 13-year-old would kiss and be close to each other.

On one occasion, probably November 9, she had sex with him in her bedroom without using protection.

Shortly after, the defendant decided to leave her boyfriend and move house, she said. As the schoolboy was helping her pack the week after, they started kissing in her daughter's bedroom.

Morgan went to get a condom and she and the boy had intercourse.

Miss Blackwell said on the day Morgan probably first had sex with the boy, she sent him 39 text messages and the next day she sent 40 texts.

Four days later the defendant drove the teenager to a picnic site at Barley and performed a sex act on him in her car, the court was told.

The prosecutor said: "Throughout the relationship, he didn't complain to anybody, perhaps not surprisingly.

"He was later to tell police he enjoyed the attention he was getting and the sexual experiences. The defendant knew how old he was and must have known she was breaking the law.

"She took advantage of this 13-year-old boy who may have had his own problems and relied on the fact he would never complain."

Miss Blackwell said a friend of the 13-year-old's mother saw him in Morgan's car in Burnley and he confessed to his mum what had been going on.

She said the defendant told the boy's mother he was not a child and she found him very attractive.

The defendant told the family she knew she would lose her job but would accept whatever happened, the court was told.

The next day, Morgan again picked the boy up, took him to Gisburn and performed a sex act on him in her car, the court heard.

When asked by police how the boy would know about the "intimate" tattoos, Morgan said he must have heard her talking about them at school, the court heard.

(Proceeding)