Cornwall Street’s Jonathan Storey (instructed by Avril Bailey of the National Education Union) has today secured the acquittal of a teacher from the West Midlands who had been charged by his regulator, the Teaching Regulation Agency, with wide-ranging allegations of serious misconduct. The conduct alleged, which included sexually inappropriate comments to pupils as well as sexual harassment of, sexual assaults on and homophobic comments towards a colleague, could have resulted in Jonathan’s client being prohibited from teaching for life.
After a hearing before a professional conduct panel, involving live oral evidence from the complainant and other colleagues, Jonathan’s client was acquitted of unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. Although the panel accepted the teacher’s admissions in relation to some of the factual allegations, it concluded that none of the conduct it found proved was serious enough in the context to warrant regulatory action.
Jonathan Storey
Barrister