Former Isle of Wight teaching assistant Melanie Rock has been found guilty of grooming a schoolboy and engaging in sexual activity with him while in a position of trust, following a 4-day trial at the Isle of Wight Crown Court.
Rock, 34, of Arctic Road in Cowes, was convicted today (Friday) of 2 offences – meeting a child following sexual grooming and abusing a position of trust by engaging in sexual activity with a boy.
The offences date back to 2023, when Rock was working as a learning support assistant at Newport’s Medina College.
The jury deliberated for jus over 2 hours before returning to the courtroom to deliver its guilty verdicts.
Rock had denied both offences, having entered formal not guilty pleas in October 2025 as reported by Island Echo.
During the trial, jurors heard how Rock had contacted the boy through Instagram, met him outside school on several occasions and invited him into her home, where he claimed to have been shown a drawer filled with sex toys.
The prosecution alleged that Rock had showered the boy with gifts, including money, vapes and 2 designer Trapstar tracksuits worth more than £350.
The court also heard that Rock had hugged the child while lying on her bed, wrapping her legs around him in what was described during the trial as a ‘koala hug’.
During a video-recorded Police interview played to the jury, the boy said he had initially been surprised when Rock contacted him on Instagram because she was a teacher.
He described how Rock had taken him under her wing at school, but said things became uncomfortable when he began visiting her home.
The boy told Police that he had visited Rock’s home address on several occasions, where he was allegedly shown a drawer in her bedroom ‘filled with sex toys’ and watched the teaching assistant ‘parade around’ in a pair of hot pants.
He also described feeling that something was wrong whenever he returned to the address, telling officers that he experienced a ‘belly feeling’ and that it ‘didn’t feel right’.
The jury heard that the offending came to light after another member of staff from Medina College spotted Rock with the boy at Pizza Hut in Newport on 5th November 2023.
That same day, the boy’s mother became aware that he had been spending time with his teacher and questioned him about it.
The teenager subsequently informed Rock through Instagram that his mother knew about their contact.
Jurors were told that Rock responded with a message stating:
“Say you’re going to the skatepark, I’ll be sacked now if they find out, oh fk, oh fk.”
When questioned by Police about the message following her arrest, Rock claimed she could not remember sending it.
During the 3rd day of the trial yesterday (Thursday), DC Justin Pringle of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary gave evidence about Rock’s Police interview.
The jury heard that Rock had told officers she had gone into ‘mum mode’ after the boy told her he was hungry, explaining why she had taken him to Pizza Hut.
She also claimed to have been concerned for his welfare, although she admitted she had not submitted a safeguarding report to the school.
Checks carried out on the teenager’s phone showed that he had connected to the WiFi network at Rock’s home, although she told Police she did not know how he had obtained the password.
Rock also denied showing the teenager sex toys and claimed she did not know how he had ended up on her bed.
In his closing speech today, prosecutor Tim Devlin told the jury that Rock had repeatedly lied about her contact with the boy.
He highlighted how Rock initially told Police she had met the child outside school only once, despite CCTV evidence showing them together at various locations on multiple occasions.
Mr Devlin also accused Rock of lying about contacting the teenager through Instagram and about whether she had told a colleague at Pizza Hut that the boy was her godson.
The prosecutor questioned why Rock had taken the boy back to her home following their visit to Pizza Hut, rather than driving him home.
Jurors heard that Rock had been experiencing a medical flare-up at the time, but Mr Devlin argued that she could have taken the teenager home instead.
The defence, led by Ellie Fargin, challenged the reliability of the boy’s account.
In her closing speech, Ms Fargin asked the jury to consider whether the teenager had taken his account too far, suggesting he may have become carried away when describing what he claimed to have seen and experienced.
The court also heard a character reference from a close friend of Rock, read aloud by Ms Fargin.
The friend described Rock as the most trustworthy and generous friend he had on the Island.
He spoke of her passion for her work and recalled numerous occasions when pupils had approached and greeted her while they were out together in public.
Jurors were also told that, following assessments by an expert psychologist and psychiatrist, Rock had been assessed as a low-level functioning adult in terms of her mental capacity.
Before the jury retired to consider its verdicts, Judge James Newton-Price directed jurors to focus on a number of important questions surrounding the allegations.
These included whether they were sure Rock had intentionally met the boy on at least 2 occasions before he visited her home on 31st October or 5th November, and whether she had met him on 31st October with sexual intentions.
The judge also asked jurors to consider whether Rock had intentionally carried out the ‘koala hug’ described during the trial and, if so, whether that contact was sexual.
After considering the evidence presented over the 4-day trial, jurors returned guilty verdicts on both charges.
The first charge relates to meeting a child following sexual grooming between September and November 2023, while the second concerns abusing a position of trust by engaging in sexual activity with a boy.
Ultimatley, the jury rejected her defence and found her guilty of both charges.
I bet she gets a slap on the wrist!! Definitely be a bigger deal if she was a male scary shes a mum herself.. makes me sick!
so, after all that drivel.. is she getting banged up or not for being a nonce