IT lecturer could be struck off over affair with girl, 18
AN IT lecturer was caught having an affair with a teenage pupil when the girl’s father found him outside his home in the early hours.
Russell Oakley, 38, arrived at the 18-year- old’s house in the early hours looking for her for sex, a disciplinary hearing was told yesterday.
But he was confronted by the girl’s father, who recognised him as her tutor.
Oakley was reported to college authorities and suspended from his £30,000-a-year job at Cardiff and Vale College in South Wales. It is the third disciplinary hearing this year involving the school’s male lecturers.
He now faces being struck off the teaching register for his year-long ‘sexually motivated’ affair with the pupil, identified only as ‘Learner A’.
The hearing in Cardiff heard how Oakley was the girl’s IT tutor for three and a half hours a week, and that the pair would send decoy emails to each other to give the appearance they were not in a relationship.
During the year-long affair, the divorcee would take the student for drinks or to his private apartment, despite having another girlfriend. Presenting officer Melinka Berridge told the hearing: ‘Oakley’s decision to form a relationship was motivated by his sexual desires to fulfil his own gratification.’ Miss Berridge added that the affair lasted for a year, until October 2015, when the student’s father called the college in Barry.
She said: ‘Her father reported that Russell Oakley had arrived at his house in the early hours trying to get hold of her. The college launched an internal investigation and Oakley was suspended.’
The Education Workforce Council heard Oakley admitted the affair, although claimed he had tried to break it off for nine months.
Miss Berridge said: ‘He said he had been in a sexual relationship with Learner A since she was 18.
‘He was under a duty to inform his manager about his relationship but did not inform her or seek guidance about it.’ Joanna McEvoy, a teacher from the college who inter- viewed Oakley about the affair, told the hearing: ‘During an interview he said he would spend time with Learner A once or twice a week but tried to break it off a number of times.
‘His girlfriend saw a text from Learner A on his mobile phone.
‘In January 2015 he felt the relationship change because he knew it was ethically wrong.
‘The college was contacted by Learner A’s father in October 2015 after he arrived at her house in the early hours of the morning.
‘At the same time Russell Oakley contacted his line manager to admit having a relationship with Learner A.’
Oakley now faces being struck off for five charges, including the inappropriate relationship and engaging in sexual intercourse.
Oakley admits unacceptable professional conduct, but argues that his actions do not merit being struck off the teaching register because the girl was over age.
The disciplinary hearing, which ends today, is the third this year involving male teachers at the college.
In February, outdoor pursuits lecturer Lee Lewis, 33, was banned from teaching after having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student.
Lewis took the girl’s virginity after seducing her in a cave on a school rock climbing trip.
And in June teacher Ian Dickie was given a reprimand after being found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
He invited two female students to London, offering to pay for their hotel.