Piano teacher Fiona Carrier guilty of indecent assault of pupil at Blue Coat School

Fiona Carrier, a former piano teacher at Blue Coat School, Reading, has pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault in relation to kissing a boy who was a pupil at Blue Coat School.

Carrier, who was known as Mrs Wiggins at the school, had also been charged with five counts of indecent assault relating to the pupil, who had alleged that she had sex with him at her home in Goring. However, she was found not guilty of these allegations by jurors at Oxford Crown Court on 7 June 2023. She now awaits sentencing for the crime that she admitted.

I am sure that the person who made the allegations against her will feel devastated by the fact that Carrier was not found guilty of the more serious assaults. However, I would hope that he also feels proud for having disclosed what happened to him and having had the strength to try to seek justice in the criminal courts, even if ultimately it did not end with the outcome he had hoped for. He should be applauded for having had the courage to come forwards in the first place.

The end of the criminal process does not always have to be the end of the fight for justice: survivors of abuse often find that a civil claim can help them put their lives back together after a long and difficult criminal process.

Civil claims have a different standard of proof to the criminal courts, and a finding of not guilty in the criminal courts does not prevent a survivor from trying to seek justice in the civil courts. In addition, civil claims are focused on the wellbeing of abuse survivors in a way that the criminal process is not. I know from the experience of my clients that a civil claim can help take back the control that they lost over their lives during the criminal investigation.

I have extensive experience in representing survivors of abuse in schools and I am happy to speak to anyone who may need support in this regard.