The ex-husband of a paedophile teaching assistant banned for life from the classroom for having sex with a teenage pupil today blasted: ‘She is no loss to the profession.’
Kandice Barber, 38, had a promising career ahead of her but abused her trust by seducing an impressionable 15-year-old boy into having sex with her in a field.
The Teaching Regulation Agency disqualified Barber, who was jailed for her actions, from ever teaching again and accused her of a ‘callous and selfish disregard for her pupils’ wellbeing.’
Barber’s ex husband Danny Barber, 41, said it had been her dream to succeed in teaching but ‘she has no place around anyone’s children.’
In an exclusive interview, Mr Barber, who now has a new relationship and is celebrating the recent birth of a son, told that Barber is due for release at the end of February and is still planning a future with the female partner she met in jail.
The waste recycling industry worker said: ‘Her disqualification from teaching is exactly what any parent would expect to happen, no other outcome would have been tolerated.
Kandice Barber (pictured with ex husband Daniel), now 38, was jailed for six years and two months in 2021 after being convicted of grooming a 15-year-old
Barber’s ex husband Danny Barber, 41, said it had been her dream to succeed in teaching but ‘she has no place around anyone’s children.’
Kandice Barber had a promising career ahead of her but abused her trust by seducing an impressionable 15-year-old boy into having sex with her in a field
‘If she had continued her path in teaching as she started it I’m sure she would have gone on to have a very good career, but she did something unthinkable that devastated so many lives.
‘Now you can only say that she is no loss to the profession after what she did to that young boy, his family and the repercussions it has brought on her own family.
‘I still find it quite amazing that she became involved with a young pupil, over three years down the line it is still astonishing.
‘She was going to work every day and seemed to be enjoying her job and doing very well.
‘She was a teaching assistant who was able to cover for teachers and was being mentored by an older teacher who had faith in her.
‘That teacher was retiring and she had hopes that she could assume the role. She was getting more responsibility all the time and appeared to be highly thought of.
‘And now she finds herself disqualified for life and it’s no more than she deserves.’
Mr Barber still bears the scars of his wife’s arrest and the realisation of her betrayal of him.
He said: ‘This time of year is always difficult. I try not to think about it but January three years ago was probably the lowest moment of my life.
In August last year, exclusively revealed that Barber started a relationship with conwoman Jay Delaney (right) while they were both in an open women’s prison
During Barber’s fling with the boy, she shamelessly texted the teenager: ‘You cannot make me blush while I am teaching now, poker face lol’
‘When the police came to the house I knew straight away it must be something to do with the school, I wondered if perhaps a pupil had made an unfounded allegation.
‘But I couldn’t in my wildest dreams have imagined what was about to happen. It was impossible at first to believe it was true, it was so completely out of character for the person I knew.
‘However, how well do you really know the person you are sleeping with? It turned out that I didn’t know her at all or what she was capable of.’
Barber’s only contribution to the hearing was a misspelt note in which she continued to claim she was not guilty of any wrongdoing.
She sent the misconduct panel a badly spelled note, saying: ‘Despite the convictions I have always proclaimed my innocentse [sic].’
Danny Barber said: ‘I welcome the decision to ban her from teaching but I am quite sure she will find a way to bounce back doing something else.
‘In spite of how the spelling might appear in her not to the panel, she is actually a very intelligent person.
‘She is also very resourceful and determined and I believe she will come out of jail and set out in a new direction and will make a success of it. But I’m very happy to say that I will have no part in that.’
Barber (pictured on her wedding day in 2015 with her former husband Daniel, from whom she became estranged)
In August last year it was revealed Barber struck up a relationship with convicted fraudster Jay Delaney, 34, after the pair met inside an open women’s prison. She told friends she loved Delaney, who was jailed for five years in April 2022 after stealing her friends’ life savings to the tune of £388,000.
Barber, who was working on day release as a security guard at a construction site in Hounslow, took advantage of her less restricted regime to meet up with Delaney on her way to and from her job.
When their illicit relationship was discovered, the prison authorities clamped down hard, removing some of their rights.
Mr Barber said: ‘I have been told that they are still together and that Kandice has cut her hair short, intending to be the more masculine-looking of the partnership.
‘She can do as she likes as far as I am concerned, I am a long way removed now from her and her family.
‘It doesn’t appear that she was able to spend time with her children over Christmas, which will be down to the sanctions imposed on her for her breaches of prison rules. ‘She is due for release at the end of February and will then continue with her life as she chooses.’
Mr Barber now lives with his partner, Charlotte, and the pair welcomed a baby boy into the world just before Christmas.
He said: ‘Life is very good and Charlotte and I and our son are in a really good place. I’m more than happy to put Kandice and everything she put me through firmly in the past.’
Barber was jailed for six years and two months in 2021 after being convicted of grooming the 15-year-old and having sex with him in a field. The teaching watchdog has now revealed that a text from Barber to the boy said: ‘You cannot make me blush while I am teaching now, poker face lol.’
The panel noted her ‘grooming and sexual exploitation’ of him was later ‘followed by threats and manipulation, demonstrating a callous and selfish disregard for her pupil’s wellbeing’.
The judge at her trial had called the mother-of-three ‘beyond despicable’ for seducing the boy with topless photos and explicit messages while teaching him at Princes Risborough School, Buckinghamshire.
The supply teacher from Wendover, Buckinghamshire, spotted her victim at a school sports day and added him on Snapchat to send flirty texts.
She then bombarded him with messages including one where she asked him ‘Do you like boobs or bum?’
Kandice Barber pictured leaving Aylesbury Crown Court, Buckinghamshire, with Daniel in March 2021, after being convicted of two sex offences related to a 15-year-old pupil
She sent him a photo of herself on a bed surrounded by sex toys and flirted with him by sending messages during a school assembly.
Barber even threatened her victim that she would ‘take him down’ if he told her bosses what had been going on.
The victim said the sexual assault took place between October 11, 2018, and immediately before the half term.
Ultimately, Barber’s shocking behaviour came to light after a topless picture she had sent her victim was seen by so many people it ended up on the headteacher’s desk.
She underwent two trials over the charges and was convicted of sending a topless picture of herself to the boy and a video in which she was pleasuring herself with a sex toy following the first trial in 2020.
In March 2021, she was found guilty of one count of causing or inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity.
She bombarded the then 15-year-old pupil with messages, including one where she asked him ‘do you like boobs or bum?’
After the second trial at Aylesbury Crown Court, recorder Bal Dhaliwal jailed Barber and said she had ‘acted in gross breach of trust’ and had taken ‘advantage of a child in your care and groomed him for your own sexual gratification’.
She told the teacher: ‘The victim was a 15-year-old boy in his final year at school. You had control and authority over him. He felt drawn in by you due to the compliments, you caused him to engage in sex with you while he was a pupil in your care.
‘You threatened to take him down with you if he reported it. You already had authority over him by virtue of your position but to use threats is beyond despicable.’
Susanne Staab, who chaired the Teaching Regulation Agency hearing, said: ‘In 2018, Ms Barber was 33 years old and working as a form tutor and cover supervisor at the school.
‘In 2019, police investigated an allegation that she had groomed a 15-year-old male pupil, had sex with him, and sent him sexual communications.
‘The sexual communications included a video of her engaging in sexual activity, and a message containing a sexual innuendo sent while they were both in school, during which Ms Barber referred to teaching him. Ms Barber was charged with three offences and pleaded not guilty.
‘Following a trial, she was convicted, and on 28 January 2021 she was sentenced to a total of six years and two months in prison, and made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
‘In sentencing her, the trial judge noted that she had made threats to the child in order to prevent him from disclosing what had happened, and had sought to manipulate him.
‘The child had become withdrawn and confined himself to his room as a result.
‘She communicated with him in an inappropriate and sexually suggestive manner during the school day, while in class, sending him a message saying ‘You cannot make me blush while I am teaching now, poker face lol’.
‘The panel had no doubt that the public would have perceived Ms Barber as her victim’s teacher, and that her conduct towards him constituted a gross breach of trust and abuse of position.
‘Her grooming and sexual exploitation of him was followed by threats and manipulation, demonstrating a callous and selfish disregard for her pupil’s wellbeing. The public would rightly be appalled by her behaviour.
‘Ms Barber denied the allegation on the basis that she maintained her innocence of the offences for which she has been convicted, most recently saying in her response to the notice of proceedings: Despite the convictions I have always proclaimed my innocentse. [sic]’.
Banning her from the profession for life, Sarah Buxcey, for the Education Secretary, said: ‘In my judgement, the lack of evidence of insight or remorse means that there is some risk of the repetition of this behaviour and this puts at risk the future wellbeing of pupils. I have therefore given this element considerable weight in reaching my decision.
‘The panel decided that the public interest considerations outweighed the interests of Ms Barber. Her conduct was so egregious and harmful as to be fundamentally incompatible with her being allowed to teach in future.’
Barber has a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days from the date she is given notice of this order.