A pedophile teacher jailed for seducing a teenage student to have sex in a field has been released from prison – despite bending prison rules to have a fling with a female inmate.
Kandice Barber, 37, is free after serving half of her prison sentence and plans to start rebuilding her life with her three children, MailOnline can reveal.
Her privileges were revoked after it was discovered she met 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 lucky to be released halfway through her sentence after such a serious breach of prison rules.
Kandice Barber (pictured), 37, is free after serving half her prison sentence 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 prison, she will be closely monitored as a sex offender and will have to register her details and movements with the police.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Sex offenders face some of the toughest licensing conditions and can be put back behind bars if they break the rules at any point during their sentence.”
Barber, of Wendover, Bucks, was jailed for six years and two months on 5 March 2021 at Aylesbury Crown Court, making her eligible for release in April.
But because she was convicted and remanded in custody pending sentencing in January 2021, it meant she could be released at the end of February under probation supervision.
Barber corrupted his 15-year-old victim, sending him topless photos and a video of himself performing a sexual act.
She began messaging the boy in 2018 after taking his phone number at a school sports day awards ceremony.
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 sport she had researched online.
She continued to send him texts, one of which said: ‘You can’t make me blush when I’m teaching now, poker face.’
The blonde teacher had bombarded the then 15-year-old boy with messages such as ‘do you like boobs or rumble?’
In August last year, MailOnline exclusively revealed that Barber started a relationship with wife Jay Delaney (left) while they were both in an open women’s prison
Jay Delaney, 34, began a five-year term for his extensive fraud of £388,000 in April 2022
Another message asked: ‘Do you prefer boobs or bums?’ 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 nurtured 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 attracted to you because of the compliments you gave him to engage in sex with you while he was a student in your care.
‘You threatened to take him with you if he reported it. You already had authority over him by virtue of your position, but using threats is beyond despicable.’
In August last year, it was revealed that Barber had entered into a relationship in prison with Delaney and the pair planned to live as a couple after their release.
A prison source told MailOnline at the time: ‘Delaney is petite and wears her hair in a boyish style, when they started their relationship people said she must be Barber’s type.
‘They spend most of their time together. This has been going on for about seven months and they discuss being a family when they are outside.
‘Barber has to go home and go to work. She goes out four nights every two weeks to have access to her children and also has six days out a month when she works at a job found by the authorities.
Barber was banned from teaching for life after a damning report about her behavior by watchdogs
School teacher Kandice Barber was jailed in March 2021 after being found guilty of having sex with a student. Pictured: Working in July as a security guard on a construction site in west London
‘She’s not in much, but when she is, she’s with Delaney. They kiss, cuddle and hold hands open and appear 100% in love, they make no attempt to hide their relationship.’
Barber desperately tried to cover up the affair, going so far as to call her now ex-husband, Danny – whom she married in 2016 – from prison.
He said last year: ‘It was my birthday when I got a call from her to say I heard rumors she was in a relationship with a fellow prisoner.
‘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’ve moved on and to be honest I didn’t care, I was celebrating my birthday with my partner Charlotte and the last thing I cared about was what Kandice was doing in prison.
‘She said at the time that the rumors were lies, but that has turned out to be a lie in itself.
‘Once again she has put herself first without any thought whatsoever of the consequences her actions could have on her family outside of prison.’
Kandice Barber pictured leaving Aylesbury Crown Court, Buckinghamshire, with her husband Daniel in March 2021 after being convicted of two sex offenses relating to a 15-year-old student
Barber leaves Aylesbury Crown Court after being found guilty of two sex offense charges relating to sending topless Snapchat photos to a 15-year-old student
While Barber was serving her sentence, she was moved away from the prison-designated job she had been found working as a security guard on a construction site in Hounslow, west London. There was an uproar among the workforce when her past was discovered and she was moved from the site near Heathrow Airport.
Before she was moved, she is said to have loved working at the site. A builder said: ‘She looks attractive so she’s already proved a hit with the boys who had no idea of her background.’
Jay Delaney, from Southend, Essex, stole from his victims by claiming to run a get-rich-quick scheme over five years from 2015 to 2020.
Delaney told 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 few years, luring them to invest most of their life savings in her scheme. ‘.
In fact, she wanted to transfer the money to her own account and play 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: ‘Prior to 2015 you had committed no criminal offences, but between 2015 and 2020 you continued a fraudulent scheme. You preyed on friends and colleagues and dishonestly obtained nearly £400,000 for your own gain. You said you worked for a company – that was a lie.
‘You offered significant returns on people’s investments – that was a lie. Often on the investments you continued to repay them with the increased premium. It often enticed the victim to make further investments. Some of them asked their friends and family to also invest in the scheme. I expect them to feel guilty about it, but the only fault is yours.
‘You made up a series of excuses about your health or a serious life-threatening illness to throw them off the scent of what happened to their money. You confessed to your parents, you knew you should go to the police but you didn’t have the strength of character so you asked your father to do it for you. It must have been one of the hardest things he has had to do.’