A woman had a sexual affair with her “Prince Charming” ballet school teacher from Oban when she was a teenager, a court has been told.
The 33-year-old described herself as “vulnerable” as she entered what she called a “relationship” with Jonathan Barton, now 41, when she was aged 16 years old.
She claimed she was “brainwashed” while attending the “cult” school in Argyll and Bute between 2006 and 2009.
The court heard claims she received private dance lessons in which she kissed “charismatic” Barton, who also gave her a “lingering touch”.
And the woman recalled Barton sneaking her into his bedroom, starting a sexual relationship between the pair that lasted around eight months.
Jonathan Barton was ‘flirty’ during private ballet lessons, witness claims
Giving evidence, she explained they would meet once or twice a month when Barton’s then-girlfriend, who also lived and worked there, was away.
Barton is on trial at Dumbarton Sheriff Court accused of 10 sexual offences against nine female students.
He’s accused of having sex with two students which court papers state was a “breach of trust”.
The charges, which he denies, span between September 2004 and July 2019 when the alleged victims were aged between 16 and 18.
On Wednesday, the court heard from a woman who claimed that she did not get on with other girls at the dance school and that she opened up to Barton about her struggles.
She said Barton was “really supportive” and advised her to keep going.
The woman claimed that she received extra coaching and private lessons from him.
She stated that Barton would give her a “lingering touch” when correcting her positioning.
The woman explained that she was lonely and texted Barton, who had become “flirty” during the extra lessons.
Barton later moved her into a flat inside the main dancing school where he and others resided, the witness stated.
She said she first kissed Barton on a couch in her bedroom, which made her feel “like I had someone who understood what I had been through”.
The woman added that the pair entered a relationship from October or November 2006 until June 2007.
Oban man ‘ended up having sex’ with 16-year-old dance student, court told
Prosecutor Dana Barclay asked the witness about her use of the word “relationship”.
She replied: “I did when I was 16. Now, I look back, I don’t know what it was. At 16, I thought I was meeting my Prince Charming, who I thought was saving the day for me”.
Miss Barclay asked: “You considered yourself having a relationship at 16?”
The witness answered: “Yes”.
Then she recalled an occasion she was asked to “sneak in” to Barton’s room.
“We were lying on his bed and had a conversation and things escalated,” she said, adding: “We would kiss and ended up having sex”.
The woman stated that they cuddled after it and Barton told her to leave through a back terrace attached to his bedroom.
Miss Barclay asked the witness how she felt and she replied: “I felt special. I felt wanted. I was excited.
“It was as if I was going to have a wonderful relationship with this man who helped me get through this difficult time. I thought I met my Prince Charming.”
The woman stated that she met Barton once or twice a month when his girlfriend, who also lived and worked there, left the premises to teach.
She stated that Barton would kiss her at the end of the private lessons.
Court hears ballet dancer felt her school was a ‘cult’
Miss Barclay asked the woman if she told anyone about the relationship and she replied: “I didn’t tell them. They just knew”.
The woman told the court that the relationship ended when she gave Barton an ultimatum between her and his girlfriend.
She claimed Barton would tell her that it was not the “right time”.
The woman claimed that the private lessons stopped after the relationship was over and she revealed she left the ballet school early in 2009 after breaking her ankle during a production.
She said she contacted the police about Barton after having a child of her own.
The woman explained: “As soon I had a child, my little boy, I just felt like the only way to describe it – as the school is so out the way – is almost a bubble or a cult.
“You are just brainwashed into just that bubble up there.”
The woman later stated that Barton “took me at a vulnerable time”.
Gary McAteer, defending Barton, asked the witness about calling the school a “cult”.
She replied: “It felt like a cult. That’s how I felt. That’s how I describe it to someone who had never been up there”.
The trial before Sheriff William Gallacher continues.
