A paedophile teacher jailed for seducing a teenage pupil into having sex in a field has been released from prison – despite bending rules in jail to have a fling with a female inmate.
Kandice Barber, 37, is free after serving half her jail term and plans to start rebuilding her life with her three children, MailOnline can reveal.
Her privileges were revoked after it was discovered she was meeting lover Jay Delaney – a convicted fraudster – while on work release from East Sutton Park Women’s prison in Kent.
Barber and Delaney took selfies together, which were discovered by prison authorities, and sanctions were imposed, including restricted visiting hours.
But it has not affected her release date and she is believed to be waiting for Delaney to leave prison so they can rekindle their relationship on the outside.
A source said: ‘She can consider herself very fortunate to be released at the halfway point of her sentence after such a serious infringement of prison rules.
Kandice Barber (pictured), 37, is free after serving half her jail term and plans to start rebuilding her life with her three children, MailOnline can reveal
Barber and Delaney (pictured together) took selfies together, which were discovered by prison authorities, and sanctions were imposed, including restricted visiting hours
‘Although she is now out of jail she will be carefully monitored as a sex offender and will have to register her details and movements with the police.’
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: ‘Sex offenders face some of the strictest licence conditions and can be put back behind bars if they break the rules at any point in their sentence.’
Barber, from Wendover, Bucks, was jailed for six years and two months on March 5th 2021 at Aylesbury Crown Court, making her eligible for release in April.
But because she was convicted and remanded in custody awaiting sentence in January 2021 it meant she could be released at the end of February under supervision by the probation service.
Barber corrupted her 15-year-old victim, sending him topless pictures and a video of herself performing a sexual act.
She began messaging the boy in 2018 after taking his phone number at a school sports day prize-giving.
The texts turned sexual and Barber picked him up in her SUV before driving to a field in October 2018 where they had sex in the secluded spot she had researched online.
She continued sending him texts, one of them saying: ‘You cannot make me blush when I am teaching now, poker face.’
The blonde teacher had bombarded the then 15-year-old boy with messages such as ‘do you like boobs or bum?’
In August last year, MailOnline exclusively revealed that Barber started a relationship with conwoman Jay Delaney (left) while they were both in an open women’s prison
Jay Delaney, 34, began a five-year term for her elaborate £388,000 fraud in April 2022
Another message asked: ‘Do you prefer boobs or bum?’ and she sent him a picture of herself lying on a bed surrounded by sex toys.
Recorder Bal Dhaliwal said Barber had ‘acted in gross breach of trust’ and had taken ‘advantage of a child in your care and groomed him for your own sexual gratification’.
She told the teacher: ‘The victim was a 15-year-old boy in his final year at school. You had control and authority over him. He felt drawn in by you due to the compliments, you caused him to engage in sex with you while he was a pupil in your care.
‘You threatened to take him down with you if he reported it. You already had authority over him by virtue of your position but to use threats is beyond despicable.’
In August last year it was revealed that Barber had struck up a relationship in prison with Delaney and the pair were planning to live as a couple after their release.
A prison source told MailOnline at the time: ‘Delaney is slight and wears her hair in a boyish style, when they started their relationship people were saying she must be Barber’s type.
‘They spend most of their time together. It’s been going on for around seven months and they discuss being a family when they are on the outside.
‘Barber gets to go home and go to work. She’ll go out for four nights every two weeks to have access to her kids and also has six days out per month when she is working on a job she’s found by the authorities.
Barber was banned from teaching for life after a damning report on her behaviour by watchdogs
School teacher Kandice Barber was jailed in March 2021 after being found guilty of having sex with a pupil. Pictured: Working in July as a security guardian at a building site in West London
‘She isn’t in much but when she is, she is with Delaney. They openly kiss, cuddle and hold hands and appear 100% in love, they make no attempt to hide their relationship.’
Barber desperately tried to cover up the relationship, going to the lengths of phoning her now ex husband, Danny – who she married in 2016 – from prison.
He said last year: ‘It was my birthday when I received a call from her to say I might hear rumours that she was in a relationship with a fellow inmate.
‘This came as a bit of a shock because she had never shown any interest in a same sex relationship to my knowledge in the past.
‘But I have moved on and frankly I didn’t care, I was celebrating my birthday with my partner, Charlotte, and the last thing I was interested in was what Kandice was doing in jail.
‘She said at the time that the rumours were lies, but that’s been proven to be a lie itself.
‘Once again she has put herself first without any thought about the repercussions her actions could have on her family outside the prison.’
Kandice Barber pictured leaving Aylesbury Crown Court, Buckinghamshire, with her husband Daniel in March 2021, after being convicted of two sex offences related to a 15-year-old pupil
Barber leaving Aylesbury Crown Court after being found guilty of two sex offence charges related to sending topless Snapchat pictures to a 15-year-old pupil
Whilst serving her sentence Barber was moved away from the prison-appointed job she had been found as a security guard on a building site in Hounslow, West London. There was a rebellion among the workforce when her past was discovered and she was moved from the site near Heathrow Airport.
Prior to being moved she is said to have loved working on the site. One builder said: ‘She’s attractive looking, so she’s already proving a hit with the lads, who had no idea about her background.’
Jay Delaney, from Southend, Essex, stole from her victims by claiming to run a get rich quick scheme over the course of five years from 2015 to 2020.
Delaney would tell her victims, many of whom were friends and work colleagues, that she worked for Aviva and could turn a £5,500 investment into £10,000 within a couple of years, enticing them to invest most of their life-savings into her ‘scheme’.
In fact, she would transfer the money into her own account and gamble it online. She sobbed as she was jailed in April 2022 at Basildon Crown Court after admitting 38 counts of fraud.
Judge Samantha Cohen said: ‘Before 2015 you had committed no criminal offences, but between 2015 and 2020 you perpetuated a fraudulent scheme. You preyed on friends and colleagues, and you dishonestly gained almost £400,000 for your own gain. You said you worked for a company – that was a lie.
‘You offered substantial returns on people’s investments – that was a lie. Often on the investments, you perpetuated to repay them with the increased premium. That often enticed the victim to make further investments. Some of them asked their friends and family to invest in the scheme as well. I expect they feel guilty about that, but the only guilt is yours.
‘You came up with a series of excuses about your health, or a serious life-threatening illness to put them off the scent of what happened to their money. You confessed to your parents, you knew you had to go to the police but you didn’t have the strength of character so you asked your father to do it for you. That must have been one of the toughest things he has had to do.’
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