A PRIMARY school teacher who had sex with a 13-year-old boy has been struck off for just 18 months.
The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) ruled the man – now 40 – should be allowed back in the classroom if he undertook “further training” on “safeguarding and child protection”.
The teacher was suspended for 18 monthsCredit: Alamy
He met the teenager on a dating appCredit: Getty
The case centred on events on December 29, 2018, when the teacher — who has not been named by the regulator — met “Child A” after they made contact via the Hornet dating app, which is restricted to users aged 18 and over.
The teacher admitted kissing the boy, having oral sex with him and having penetrative sex, and admitted exchanging sexual messages and asking him to delete them.
However, he insisted throughout that he believed Child A was 18 and did not know his true age at the time.
Child A, now 20, told the hearing he lied about being 18 on the app but claimed he disclosed his true age during a car journey to the teacher’s home before the sexual encounter.
He accepted he had given inconsistent and sometimes untrue accounts in a police interview in January 2019 and during a subsequent criminal trial.
The Panel described the boy as a vulnerable witness and allowed him to give evidence remotely and from behind a screen so that he and the teacher could not see each other.
Police and GTCS witness statements from Child A’s parents were admitted as hearsay after they declined to attend, with the Fitness to Teach Panel ruling their evidence was relevant and reliable and not decisive on the key disputed points.
The teacher told the hearing that Child A had initiated contact on Hornet, presented as an adult, and that nothing in their interactions caused him to doubt the stated age of 18.
He described discovering the boy’s true age during the police investigation as “soul crushing”, and said the case had cost him his career, house, car and “many other aspects of the life he had previously built”.
The teacher has been working in a supermarket for the last two years.
He was acquitted of criminal charges at Paisley Sheriff Court after a jury returned not proven verdicts. His PVG status was later reinstated by Disclosure Scotland.
The crucial issue for the GTCS Panel was whether Child A had told the teacher he was 13 before the sexual encounter took place.
On that point, the Panel had to choose between the competing accounts of the two main witnesses.
In its written decision, the Panel said Child A had given “inconsistent (and at times false) accounts” to police and at trial and that there were aspects of his current version which seemed “slightly implausible”, including the lack of any detailed discussion after he allegedly revealed his age in the car.
It noted that several years had passed since the events, that Child A’s recollection “did not seem very reliable” and that he described himself as only “pretty sure” about telling the teacher his age during the journey.
By contrast, the Panel found the teacher had given evidence in a manner that was “clear, direct, and consistent” and that his account of the car journey “fitted with the rest of the evidence”.
“For all of these reasons the Panel accepted the credibility and reliability of the Teacher’s evidence regarding the core issue in the case,” it concluded.
“Therefore they concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, Child A had not told the Teacher Child A’s true age prior to their sexual encounter.”
However, the Panel still found serious misconduct.
Scottish Conservative shadow minister for children and young people Roz McCall MSP said: “Parents will be furious.
“Robust safeguarding measures must be put in place if they are to be reassured at all that their children’s safety will not be getting put at risk is of paramount importance.”
The panel found serious misconductCredit: Alamy
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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