Former PE teacher appears in court charged with sexual offences against children
Bronwen James, 29, of Chippenham, Wiltshire, appeared at Salisbury Magistrates' Court on Wednesday accused of sexual activity with two girls and a boy over a three-year period.
She is charged with six offences of sexual activity with a child, relating to girls under the age of 16, contrary to the Sexual Offences Act.
James is also accused of two counts of sexual communication with a child and one count of making an indecent photograph of a child, namely a Category C – the least serious category – first generation image.
The former teacher is also charged with four counts of sexual activity with a boy, contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
Wiltshire Police previously confirmed that James taught PE at Hardenhuish School in Chippenham and Bitterne Park School in Southampton.
Stephen Harrison, chair of the bench, told James that her case would be heard next at Salisbury Crown Court on August 7.
He said: 'By virtue of three of these offences being indictable only, which means they can only be heard in the crown court, we will be sending them to the crown court.
'The other 10 offences are associated offences and therefore will be included in the hearing to be heard in front of the crown court.
'The next phase is to attend for a plea and trial preparation hearing which is going to take place at Salisbury Crown Court on August 7.
'In between now and August 7, you are granted bail with conditions.
'If you don't turn up to court at that appointed date and time, you may be committing an offence.
'You are not to have direct or indirect contact with the three complainants in this matter.
'You are not to have any unsupervised contact with any child or young person under the age of 16.'
Mr Harrison asked James to confirm that she understood what he had said and to repeat the bail conditions to the court, which she did.
The judge also stressed: 'The identities of all complainants for these matters is protected under law. Failure to comply is a criminal offence.'
During the short hearing, James, wearing a cream two-piece outfit, also spoke to confirm her name, date of birth and address.
She was not asked to enter any pleas to the charges against her.
Siobhan Oxley appeared for the prosecution during the hearing, while Joshua Clements represented James.
James will next appear before Salisbury Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on August 7.
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