Teacher whose wife hid baby in drain was sexting girl pupil, 16
THE husband of a career woman who hid her newborn baby’s body in a drain was having an illicit relationship with a 16-year- old schoolgirl at the time.
Sinead Connett, 29, had concealed her pregnancy from her partner Jonathan Layfield and gave birth in secret to a boy, who was either stillborn or died shortly afterwards.
She was jailed this week after the baby’s body was found in a drain in her parents’ garden.
Now it has emerged Mr Layfield, who was the baby’s father, was deceiving her too, sexually pursuing a teenage girl at the school where he worked as a history teacher. Mr Layfield, 28, was banned indefinitely from teaching after conducting the illicit relationship between July 2012 and May 2014.
He exchanged ‘inappropriate and sexualised’ emails with the pupil, telling her he fantasised about having sex with her, a disciplinary hearing revealed. He also kissed her at the school in March 2014.
The relationship ‘transgressed appropriate professional boundaries between teacher and student’ and the emails were sent ‘with unusual frequency’ and often late at night, the National College for Teaching and Leadership panel in Coventry found.
Mr Layfield was suspended from his job at Vandyke Upper School in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, after admitting what had happened when his behaviour was reported.
He was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and then education secretary Nicky Morgan banned him indefinitely from teaching in November 2014. He must wait for five years before applying for the ban to be overturned.
Connett, who worked in the HR departments of Tesco and Selfridges, stood by him and was left as the main earner. The couple, who met while studying at Leeds University and were yet to marry at that time, continued living together in Hertfordshire.
However, in the meantime she had also been deceiving her partner. Her pregnancy was confirmed by a GP in January 2013, but she said ‘health reasons’ were causing her bloated stomach. She gave birth in August 2013 in their bathroom, hid the body in her car boot and three days later drove 160 miles to her parents’ home in Grimsby. The baby’s remains were not discovered until February last year – after Mr Layfield’s own shame had come to light – by a plumber investigating a drain blockage. When DNA tests revealed Connett was the mother, she lied that it was the result of a rape by a taxi driver. With the cloud of a police inquiry hanging over them, Connett and Mr Layfield went ahead with their wedding plans and married last November, posting happy pictures on social media. Just weeks later, Connett was interviewedPolice after again furtherby Humberside DNA tests showed Mr Layfield was the baby’s father. She admitted she had lied about the rape and told officers she feared a baby would jeopardise her job and her relationship with Mr Layfield. She pleaded guilty to concealment of a baby and was jailed for 12 months this week. Mr Layfield was in tears in the public gallery as Grimsby Crown Court was told of her ‘callous’ deception and heard the pregnancy was simply ‘inconvenient’. Judge Jeremy Richardson, QC, said her conduct was ‘so dreadful that it almost defies description’.
‘Inappropriate and sexualised emails’