Teacher's students wrote to inmate boyfriend

A New York teacher had her Year Five students send Christmas cards to her boyfriend, a prison inmate who had previously been accused of owning images of child abuse.

Queens teacher Melissa Dean undertook the project before Christmas without the permission of the students' parents or the school, the New York Post reports.

She told her 10-year-old students they were writing cards for people who were sick or lonely and then sent them to her boyfriend, John Coccarelli.

Coccarelli has been in a maximum-security prison in Rochester since 2010, after he was convicted of gun possession and violating a protection order against his ex-wife.

He was also charged with possessing "dozens of sexually explicit images of young kids" on his computer but those charges were dropped as part of a plea deal.

Dean had told the students to write their names and addresses on the card if they wanted a reply and at least two students did in the hope of making a pen pal.

A worker at the jail noticed the 25 cards and intercepted them so they never reached Coccarelli.

An investigation into the incident was completed yesterday and recommended Dean be fired.

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