Politics
Married teacher Kandice Barber, 35, who had sex with pupil, 15, ‘was always fame-hungry and auditioned for X Factor’
SEX shame teacher Kandice Barber was obsessed with fame from a young age and would do ANYTHING for attention, pals claim.
The failed actor persuaded her mum to send her to the £21,000-a-year Sylvia Young Theatre School despite her family being tight for cash.
Kandice Barber was jailed after having sex with a 15-year-old[/caption]
She went on to bag bit parts in Casualty and The Bill – but was told she did not have the natural talent to make it as an A-lister.
And at one stage she even auditioned for the X Factor in the hope of getting her big break.
Friends say the teacher never let go of her need for attention and became hooked on sex because she loved the sense of worship it gave her.
They believe she seduced a schooboy of 15 because it gave her a thrill – and because she felt like the centre of his world.
She was jailed for six years and two months on Friday after having sex with the teen in a field after school.
Barber, of Wendover, Bucks, had befriended him on Snapchat then later took him to some hay bales and kissed him on the neck, whispering “Do you want to have sex?”.
Now a friend has revealed: “All Kandice ever wanted was to be famous. Part of me wonders if that’s why she did what she did with that poor boy.
“She was a mum-of-three working in a school, which must have been incredibly boring for her.
“She always wanted danger and thrills and excitement yet she never drank or took drugs.
“She was an only child for a long time before her brother was born. Then when he came along she didn’t have the limelight all to herself.
“She had to work harder to be the star. That’s where her hunger for fame came from.
Friends say the teacher never let go of her need for attention[/caption]
“From being a child she pestered her mum to send her to drama school. Her mum spent £10,000s sending her to Sylvia Young.
“Ultimately I think she only gave up because the money ran out and she didn’t have the talent to get the kinds of jobs she wanted.
“She had another roll of the dice after her children were born when she decided to audition for X Factor.
“She really believed she was in with a shot, but the producers turned her away within minutes.
“I think that was the final straw for her with showbusiness. That’s when she gave up.
“But all those attention needs had to go somewhere, they didn’t just go away. Perhaps boredom and neediness are what drove her to that boy.
“Maybe if she had got on X Factor this would never have happened.”
The court heard Barber added the teenage pupil on Snapchat in September 2018 and started sending him suggestive messages.
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Just a week after taking his number she drove him to a secluded field where they had sex.
But she later let the boy believe she was pregnant, panicking him into confessing to school bosses.
She tried to cover her tracks by ordering him to delete all her messages and threatening to “take him down” if he revealed their affair.
