A special needs teacher who had sex with a teenage pupil in a car park while on jury service was jailed for four years yesterday.

Elvira Fairhurst, 49, had a four-month affair with the boy, who had learning difficulties, while he was 14.

The married mother of two lavished attention and praise on him, allowed him to kiss her, and took his virginity in a school stock room.

They had intercourse in the same room on two other occasions and also twice in male lavatories at the school. They also had sex twice in a park.

Fairhurst was caught after meeting the boy on the roof of a car park during a break in a trial at Liverpool Crown Court where she was a juror.

She had been in regular mobile phone contact with him, sent text messages referring to him as "honey bunny" and "gorgeous" and had invited him to skip school and meet her in the city.

A crane driver with binoculars saw her having sex with the boy inside her black Fiat and called police.

The boy was found in the car by himself and told officers that Fairhurst was his mother before admitting that she was his teacher.

Police then went to the court and had to tell a judge that they had to arrest one of his jurors on suspicion of having sex with a minor.

Fairhurst, of Allerton, Liverpool, initially claimed that the boy had sexually assaulted or raped her, but later pleaded guilty to 11 counts of sexual activity with a child. John McDermott, QC, defending, said she was a regular churchgoer who had led a constructive and exemplary life.

He said: "To those who knew Elvira Fairhurst, her behaviour is incredible. She will never be able to explain to anyone just why she embarked on a madcap course of sexual activity with a boy in her charge, but she did."

Jailing Fairhust for a total of four years and three months and banning her from working with children indefinitely, Judge Henry Globe, QC, the Recorder of Liverpool, said she had abused her position of trust.

"You allowed an unhealthy, unprofessional, unlawful sexual relationship to develop and pursued that relationship for your own pleasure in an open and brazen way.

"You performed sexual acts in semi-public, in a stockroom, in a boys' toilet, in a park and finally at a time when you were performing public service as a juror in this very building, in an open-air car park in full view of a crane driver.

"Dumbfounded, the crane driver called the police. It was that action, not anything that you did, that brought to an end your disgraceful behaviour.

"Who knows how long it would have continued if he had not alerted the authorities," the judge said.

Fairhurst showed no emotion as she was led from the dock. Her husband Stuart, who attended the hearing and who is remaining "steadfast and loyal" to her, declined to comment afterwards.