His mother found lewd messages with his former teacher

A teacher who groomed a teenage student for sex nicknamed him 'bad boy' and spoke explicitly about her sexual stamina in a disturbing exchange spanning up to 6,000 messages.

The texts between Dean Gray and his teacher were sent between April and July 2013 - when the 17-year-old was in his final year of school in Narrabri, northern NSW.

It was only after Dean drowned in a freak accident on a boys' camping trip in October 2021, aged 25, that his mother Cherina Gray found the messages on his phone and realised the extent to which her son had been groomed.

Now, Daily Mail Australia can reveal the true scale of the texts between Dean and his teacher, who can't be named for legal reasons.

The teacher initially contacted him on Facebook about his maths results, but the texts gradually became more intimate, until the tone shifted and they started talking about their sexual exploits.

Pictured: Dean Gray with his fiancee Taylor and their son, Bostin, before he died in 2021

Dean Gray, 25, (pictured with his mother Cherina) drowned on a camping trip in October 2021

Dean's mother Cherina Gray uncovered messages between him and his former teacher (pictured: a mock-up of the texts)

'Every time I have thought about you for the last few months, including now, my body responds ridiculously well,' she wrote, after one of their first sexual encounters.

In another text, she said it was difficult to 'get my body started' because the 'venue' - which appeared to be somewhere in the school - was not ideal and she couldn't stop worrying about 'curtains, noises, people' and having 'no lingerie'.

The relationship lasted about four months before Dean received a furious message from the teacher's husband, who blamed the teenager for the relationship and said 'get your dirty hands off my wife'.

Dean struggled with his mental health after graduating high school, to the point where he disclosed his abuse to some friends, but ultimately shied away from make a formal complaint.

He eventually told a friend the teacher was a 'deep, dark, twisted' person who 'you do not want to get tied up with'.

'Your kisses, your mouth, your hands'

Ms Gray believes one of the first times the teacher had sex with her son was in June 2013 - while he was at school finishing a woodwork assignment.

Afterwards, she wrote: 'Sorry! That was NOT my body - that was my brain interfering.'

'I can tell you that because every time I have thought about you for the last few months, including no, my body responds ridiculously well. Just not earlier today...'

'How u feeling?'

Dean replied: 'I'm feeling pretty good. Hips are a bit sore, knees are a bit sore. Good workout.'

'Just kidding, a badass doesn't feel pain.'

She wrote: 'OK badass. You obviously don't have a brain that needs a lot of preparation.'

The texts between Dean and his teacher were often sexual, and detailed their exploits (pictured: a mock-up of the texts)

At one stage, the teacher spoke about her sexual stamina (pictured: a mock-up of the texts)

The teacher also said she was thinking about 'your kisses, your mouth, your hands' (pictured: a mock-up of the texts)

'I'm not calling today's effort dinner or dessert. It was entrée. Maybe just an appetizer.'

Later, she appeared concerned that her sexual performance was off-putting for the teenager.

'Been thinking about my badass, cute ass and wondering if I totally messed it up,' she wrote.

He asked: 'What makes you think you messed what up?'

She replied: 'Messed it up with you, by not being so good for you.'

Dean said, jokingly, 'you were okay I guess,' before he added: 'Don't worry, I just have a bit of stamina. Prepare you for next time.'

The teacher then said: 'It actually wasn't so much the stamina - I can do that bit. It was the initial nerves, couldn't get my body started kind of thing. Like a mental block.'

'Brain wouldn't stop worry about stuff - curtains, noises, people, no lingerie, stuff like that.'

At another point, the teacher said she was thinking about 'seeing you, being with you, talking with you, your kisses, your mouth, your hands'.

Dean replied: 'Hmmm. Those are good things ... good considering I'm such a badass.'

She said: 'Nothing bad about any of those things, bad boy. You must be just bad enough to be my kind of bad.'

Dean Gray, pictured with his fiancée Taylor Baxter and their son Bostin, vanished during a camping trip

'My girlfriends have children older than you'

Following one of their first sexual encounters in July 2013, the conversation turned to whether others would find out about their relationship.

'Seriously, I am not telling anyone,' she said.

'Do you have any idea what they would think? You Sure nobody else knows?'

He replied: 'I know, I know. I just know what you women talk about when you get a few wines into you.'

'No one knows. It will be our secret.'

She said: 'Trust me - I'm not a talker about this. Thank you.

He wrote: 'Hmm okay. I trust you.'

The teacher then said: 'My girlfriends have children older than you.'

The pair invariably grew concerned that someone would find out about their relationship (pictured: a mock-up of the texts)

'My husband knows'

The relationship only appeared to ended when the teacher's husband found out, in July 2013.

She wrote: 'Hey, I need to see you and talk to you. My husband knows and he wants it to stop. When can I talk to you face to face? He knows we are going to meet and talk about it.'

READ MORE: Mystery as young fitness fanatic dad swims to the other side of a river during boys' camping trip before VANISHING and being found DEAD four days later - as his heartbroken fiancée reveals what she thinks REALLY happened What should have been a weekend of BBQs and campfires took an alarming twist when the fit and healthy 25-year-old hurt himself while swimming 50m across the gushing river. Advertisement

Dean replied: 'How did he find out?'

She responded: 'He has seen our conversations. It's OK I just need to talk to you. No one else knows.'

Two days later, Dean received a furious message from the teacher's husband, from the teacher's account.

'This is the nameless husband ... I hope you understand the hurt and pain you have caused [in] 12 months time when you are on girlfriend number two or three we will still be trying to pick up the pieces of a shattered marriage,' he wrote.

'Don't you dare speak to my wife again, let alone put your dirty little hands on her body ... or there will be repercussions.'

Heartbreaking find

Dean, his younger brother and some of their closest friends packed their bags for a few days away on a property along the Namoi River on October 16, 2021.

But the trip took a tragic turn when Dean, who was just 25, hurt himself while swimming across the gushing river.

He dislocated his shoulder, so his friends told him to hang on to the riverbank while they looked for a way around to help him.

His body was found four days later, two kilometres downstream from where he was last seen.

Pictured: Dean, during his last camping trip on the day he went missing

Pictured: The Namoi River near Narrabri, where Dean went missing

His parents had learned about the relationship in 2016 after a family member disclosed details of the abuse.

At the time, they reported the allegations to the police and Education Department but an investigation was closed due to 'insufficient evidence'.

While the teacher was being investigated, Ms Gray said Dean's behaviour changed - he broke all the bones in his foot in a biking accident, and said he wished he had been run over by a truck.

'I knew something was going on,' she said.

However, Ms Gray didn't know the full extent of the relationship - her son was a private person, and pulled away from his family when they found out about his grooming and assault.

After he died, Ms Gray was trying to piece his last moments together and started looking through the messages on his phone.

'I'm scrolling through these messages - the first one that came up was when he was threatened by her husband,' she said.

'I scrolled through and started capturing it all - I kept going at it, I couldn't go to bed, so Rob and I stayed up until 2am talking back and forth about what I was finding and how horrified I was.'

The couple spent 18 hours poring over about 6,000 messages between the teacher and her son.

'It was so heartbreaking because I'm watching my son be lured into this relationship and then being left out in the cold at the end, and then being blamed,' she said.

'He's living under our roof and we didn't even know about it. I really felt like a failure.'

Dean is pictured with his ex-girlfriend Kat, before he started going out with Taylor

Official complaint

Ms Gray made copies of all the messages and lodged a complaint with the Department of Education.

The teacher, who had been promoted at another school since Dean's abuse, was removed from face-to-face contact with children within 48 hours.

However, police said the complaint could not progress because the victim was dead.

Ms Gray recalled one moment where a local cop said: 'How many people do you want me to upset, Cherina?' these witnesses are all grieving dean's death.'

'I said, "it's nothing to do with what I want, it's your case to investigate".'

The teacher at the centre of the allegations was promoted at another school and is still employed by the Department of Education.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the teacher, and the NSW Department of Education for comment.