PE teacher ‘twanged pupil’s thong on the climbing wall’
A PE teacher was struck off after pestering a girl for sex and ‘twanging her thong’ when she was on a climbing wall.
A misconduct hearing was told that David Newton-Badman, 38, also targeted the 17-year- old when she went on a ski-ing trip with former classmates.
He molested her on the bus home, gave her massages and bombarded her with lewd messages.
The panel said the married teacher’s ‘ predatory and calculated’ behaviour began in April 2014 during a climbing exercise at her school in Telford, Shropshire.
The girl, identified only as Pupil A, said he ‘jumped up and pulled at my thong, touching the top of my bum’ as she descended the climbing wall. She told how he ‘twanged’ her underwear while she was with another girl and a female staff member at Phoenix Academy, now Telford Langley School.
Newton-Badman claimed he was trying to adjust her harness but Pupil A said: ‘You would not adjust someone’s harness when they are on the wall.’
On the ski trip in December 2014, the girl was sitting in the hotel games room after everyone had gone to bed. She said she put her feet up on his chair and he ‘began massaging’ them in his lap.
Later, the girl was chatting with Newton-Badman in her room when she said her shoulders were aching from the ski-ing.
Her roommate then came out of the shower to find him massaging Pupil A’s shoulders. On New Year’s Eve, he sent her a Facebook message ‘suggesting a naked massage’ and another saying ‘Hotel room, get drunk, sleep with me’.
The teacher also told her how he wanted to take her clothes off. In another incident in the swimming pool, the girl told how Newton-Badman made lewd comments.
‘I was floating on my back and he swam under and popped his head up between my ankles,’ she said. ‘He said “I hope this is not the last time I am between your legs”.’
On the bus home, he invited her to sit next to him and then ‘tried to put his hand down my leggings’ before pushing his hand under her bra and touching her breast.
After the trip, Newton-Badman exchanged multiple Facebook messages with his victim. When she told him she was going shopping ‘ he sent a picture of stockings and suspenders suggesting I bought them and said “so I can bite it off later”.’
She added: ‘I reminded Mr Newton-Badman that he was married and he said he was not looking for an affair, only a bit of fun.’
He also sent a message to another girl saying: ‘Sorry. V inappropriate. But if you ever want to “experience” an older man, just let me know x”.’
Newton-Badman, who resigned in October 2015, was not at the National College of Teaching and Leadership hearing in Coventry.
In a statement, he said: ‘Overall, I do accept the actions to which I have admitted were unprofessional and capable of being construed as being sexually motivated. It was never my intention to cultivate a sexual relationship with any pupil.’