Lothian crime: School teacher Jacqueline Millar had sex with teenage pupil in classroom

Teacher from West Lothian had sex with underage pupil on ‘regular basis’

A Lothian high school teacher covered up her classroom windows with paper before having sex with a pupil, a court was told on Friday, June 23.

Jacqueline Millar engaged in several illicit acts with the teenage boy – including outside at a wooded area – after she met him at a high school in the Lothians in 2021. The 36-year-old, who was described in court as a ‘high flyer’, admitted repeatedly kissing and cuddling the lad and uttering sexual remarks towards him. The disgraced teacher also admitted sending the boy messages on social media and by text of a sexual nature.

The relationship was uncovered after Millar was forced to call 999 following an altercation between the pair at her home in March last year. The boy was taken into police custody following the incident and confided in a nurse he and the teacher had been ‘in a sexual relationship’ for months.

Lothian teacher Jacqueline Millar admitted having a sexual relationship with an underage pupil

Millar, from Livingston, West Lothian, also pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual intercourse with the pupil over a seven month period when she appeared in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday. Sheriff Derek O’Carroll told the offender that “all options to the court remain open” and deferred sentence to next month for social work reports and a risk assessment to be prepared.

Prosecutor Susan Dickson told the court Millar started at the high school, which cannot be identified for legal reasons, as a teacher in philosophical, religious and moral studies July 2017. She then moved to a separate department and was described in court as a “competent, knowledgeable and dedicated professional”. She became involved with the teenage pupil in 2020 and the pair were said to have gone on walks together.

Ms Dickson said “concerns were raised” about the relationship by teaching colleagues who believed she was putting herself in ‘a difficult position’. The court was told the pair first kissed in Millar’s car after she had picked him up from football training in August 2021. The boy said it was the teacher who initiated the kiss but Millar later claimed it was the lad who had kissed her first.

The fiscal depute said two weeks later Millar and the pupil drove to a wooded area in East Lothian where ‘she removed her clothes and sexual intercourse occurred’ while he was under age. The court was told the pair then ‘entered into a relationship’ and had sex at her home ‘on a regular basis’. Ms Dickson said Millar and the boy also had sex in a classroom at the school where she ‘put paper over the windows’ to avoid being seen.

Advocate Sarah Livingstone, defending, said Millar ‘disputes entirely’ having a sexual encounter at the school and said it had been the boy who had leaned in to kiss her first. The advocate said Millar had ‘lost everything’ due to the relationship and had been “held in high esteem by the school” and was considered as a ‘high flyer’ within the education system.

Ms Livingstone said there were several other details of the Crown case that Millar did not agree with. Millar pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual activity with the pupil at various locations between August 1, 2021 and February 8 last year.

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