Teacher reported ex-pupil to police for threatening to rape her after he told podcast he might want sex with her again, court hears

By ELIZABETH HAIGH, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 15:56, 14 August 2026 | Updated: 16:14, 14 August 2026 A chemistry teacher reported a former pupil to the police for threatening to rape her when he told a podcast he might want to have sex with her again, a court has heard. Sally-Anne Bowen, 65, is accused of sexually abusing two boys at Christ's College in Finchley, north London when they were aged 14 and 15 in the late 1980s. The teacher – then aged in her mid-20s – allegedly 'engaged in flirtatious conduct' with the pupils and had sex with one of them '20 to 30 times' over five months. She is charged with six counts of indecent assault in relation to that complainant, and two further counts against the second. At Harrow Crown Court on Friday, defence counsel Mark Kimsey challenged the former pupil on the quote given to Tortoise Media's Lucky Boy podcast in 2025. The man, now in his 50s, demanded jurors hear a fuller version: 'I believe I also said: 'I might want to punch her in the face'. Please do the quote correctly,' said the complainant, before reaching for a bundle of court papers. Reading out the podcast script directly, he said: 'What's confusing is I might, I might want to hug her. 'I might want to kiss her. I might want to f*** her. I might want to punch her in her face. I might just want to cry. How about that? How f***ed up's that?' Sally-Anne Bowen, 65, is accused of sexually abusing two boys at Christ's College in Finchley, north London when they were aged 14 and 15 in the late 1980s Giving some context to the comments, the complainant said he had wanted to speak to Ms Bowen for 'restorative justice' instead of bringing criminal charges, but police told him the allegations were 'so serious' they could not agree to it. The quote was a response to the podcast journalist asking what he would say to Bowen if that restorative justice meeting had ever been arranged. The former pupil told the court: 'She reported me to police for 'threatening to rape her' on the basis of that quote.' The complainant continued: 'The only strange thing for me in my answer is punching her in the face. 'That's the only strange thing I have never done before. All the other things I have done before.' Only jurors who had not listened to the podcast were allowed to sit on the jury. Earlier, Mr Kimsey asked: 'Did you fancy Ms Bowen?' 'Obviously - I remember having sex with her for five months,' the complainant said. Mr Kimsey said: 'You were desperate to have her attention.' He replied: 'I was not desperate. Sally-Anne Bowen did not become a major part of my life before having sex with her. I was quite a well entertained child. She did not dominate my life until I started having sex with her.' The teacher - then aged in her mid-20s - allegedly 'engaged in flirtatious conduct' with the pupils and had sex with one of them '20 to 30 times' over five months He went on to accuse Bowen of 'isolating' him from his family, friends and teachers. 'After antagonising the teachers she then left me to deal with that. Some of those things I could not repair. When I was 15 I did not have the social skills to recognise what I was in. I was being bullied by adults,' he added. When Mr Kimsey suggested the complainant's 'obsession' with Bowen had 'dominated' his life, he responded: 'It's dominated my life for the last 12 years.' Turning to the school,  the complainant said: 'There's an element we have not discussed whether the school knew. Nobody sends their 14-year-old child to the school for a teacher to have sex with them.' Judge Karim Ezzat then asked him to focus on the questions. Mr Kimsey also accused the complainant of 'making up' a memory of Bowen talking about her genitals on a school coach, and suggested there was 'no conversation' about the way Bowen smelled. The complainant insisted: 'That conversation did take place.' Mr Kimsey also suggested the former pupil had added details of Bowen's alleged urination 'fetish' to make his account 'more salacious' in 2020, having not spoken about it during his first police interview in 2014. The witness responded: 'I think teaching a child things that are not normal or natural is quite important. I was quite ashamed of it. She taught me how to do it and I thought it was relevant that everyone could understand the level of perversity she subjected a 14-year-old to.' Asked why he did not talk about it during his first interview, he said: 'It was difficult. Nobody wants to talk about it. I was sitting there squirming.' When Mr Kimsey suggested he only discovered the perversity in 2020, the complainant hit back: 'I found and discovered it in 1988, thank you very much.' He said Mr Kimsey's assertions there was 'no kissing' and 'no sexual intercourse' were 'not true' and 'absolutely ridiculous.' Mr Kimsey said an incident where Bowen is said to have compared her genitals to a model in a pornographic magazine was 'pure fabrication.' The ex pupil said the incident happened and he told jurors the boy who bought the magazine into a cafe had previously been 'shown the Kama Sutra' by Bowen during a lesson. When Mr Kimsey read out the complainant's accounts of their first time having sex – questioning why detail about removing clothes had only appeared during later interviews – he burst out: 'She remembers. She remembers.' Judge Ezzat interrupted and asked him not 'communicate' with Bowen. 'I'm not communicating,' he said. 'She's staring at me like that - thinking.' When Mr Kimsey suggested the complainant had been 'adding' to his story, he said: 'A secret is like a black hole that sucks in other events. 'When you start spending time on it for 12 years...you can even get things back from other people's memories, I don't deny that.' Asked about his account of going to the pub for end of term drinks, he insisted he was in the pub with Bowen in front of his teachers and that when they left on the Tube she masturbated him between the stations and gave him oral sex. 'She did that,' said the complainant, rejecting Mr Kimsey's observation that he 'added' the allegation of oral sex. Mr Kimsey said: 'You have made this all up.' The ex pupil fired back: 'Outrageous. Disgusting thing to say.' He continued: 'If you think I would be here for a second… The court should be aware that people who make up this kind of allegations detracts from victims and I would not do these sort of things.' Asked if he was aware Bowen has an 'anatomical abnormality' that makes having sex painful, the complainant said there was 'some talk' of it at the teacher's disciplinary hearing but he was not allowed to know about it. 'She has got some impossible abnormality that she did not have in 1988?' he said, adding: 'It was not a problem for me or any of the other boys she slept with.' Probing further, Mr Kimsey said the condition meant 'painful painful' sexual intercourse, questioning: 'She never complained? It was vigorous sexual activity for two-and-a-half hours?' Accused of being 'a fantasist' for the last time by Mr Kimsey, the complainant said: 'A fantasist is a paedophile who cannot admit they are a paedophile, and a dangerous fantasist at that.' The boy first made a police report in November 2014 after encouragement from his partner.  When Bowen was first interviewed in 2015, she claimed he was a 'bit of a nuisance' and 'besotted' with her – calling the sexual relationship claims 'just pure fantasy'. As a result of the allegations, Bowen faced a Teaching Regulation Authority hearing in 2022. After reading about the TRA hearing, a second boy came forward and claimed she let him touch her breasts and kiss her during lunch at a cafe near the school. Bowen denies eight counts of indecent assault. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.