A female teacher who had sex with one of her underage students has been jailed for one year.

The court heard their sexual relationship began two years ago when she was 23 and he was just 16-years-old.

The now 25-year-old woman, who can't be named to protect the boy’s identity, sobbed uncontrollably in the dock as Judge Martin Nolan handed down sentence.

Family members at the back of the courtroom were also distraught as he explained how he arrived at his decision.

The court heard yesterday that it all began when they met each other at a nightclub two years ago.

They chatted and hugged in the club but things went no further. Their chats continued in school and through Snapchat.

They had sex for the first time on his 16th birthday and again in a hotel room two weeks later.

She told the court she accepts full responsibility for what happened and is truly sorry. She said she thought the legal age of consent was 16.

Judge Nolan accepted her excuse but, as a teacher, he said she should have known. He said “very little enquiry” would have informed her.

He said it was completely unethical for a teacher to have sexual relations with a student and it was a criminal matter because of his age.

He then handed down a three year prison sentence with the final two years suspended.

Reporting from Frank Greaney