An eight-day trial ended this week with a reduced jury being discharged after failing to reach a final decision.

They were asked to consider whether teacher Ellie Wilson, from Dursley, was guilty as charged with having sex with a pupil on an aeroplane in 2015.

Wilson, 29, who taught the boy at a Bristol school which cannot be named, denied four counts of abuse of position and sexual activity with a child during the hearing at Bristol Crown Court.


Ellie Wilson

What's the background?

Ellie Wilson, from Dursley, is a former physics teacher who was head of Key Stage Four at a Bristol secondary school when the alleged offences took place in August 2015.


Among the four charges, she was accused of having sex with a pupil in airplane toilet on the way home from a school trip.

Wilson was charged with four counts of abuse of position and sexual activity with a child, which she denies.

Ellie Wilson arrives at Bristol Crown Court

During the trial, the jury heard that Wilson had allegedly been blackmailed by another pupil who told the teacher 'have sex with me or I'll expose you' .

It was revealed that the accused teacher had been through an abortion, but said that the baby had been her then boyfriend, Andy Hall's child.

Before sending them out to consider the verdict, Judge Peter Blair urged the jury to consider both sides - that Wilson may have taken opportunities to have intimacy with the boy in the guise of helping him with his studies and that the boy may well have simply boasted he had "joined the mile high club" with the teacher.

What happens next?

Following the hung jury, Wilson was released on unconditional bail, pending a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decision on a possible retrial.

The CPS has seven days to consider its position.

Ellie Wilson was on trial

Guidance on the CPS website says following a jury's failure to reach a verdict, it is the prosecution's decision over whether it will seek a re-trial.

In making a decision to push ahead with a re-trial, the CPS has to take in to accounts factors like the merits of the case, public interest in seeking a verdict, the likely reasons for a jury's failure to reach a verdict and the interests and views of the victim.

You can look back on the entire Ellie Wilson trial in our live blog .