Jailed, the teacher who sold drugs to her pupils

‘She abused that trust’

A TEACHER has been jailed for dealing drugs to her pupils.

Rachel Ryan, 41, even offered a discount to students who bought more than 100 tablets.

A court heard she ‘ used her knowledge’ as a business studies teacher to run a black market in class C substances at Banbury Academy in Oxfordshire.

She was caught when a teacher seized a pupil’s phone for texting in class. It showed the student had been texting Ryan about drugs.

The school opened an investigation and Ryan was suspended in March last year.

Senior staff sent a letter to parents asking them to contact the academy if their children had had any ‘unusual contact’ with Ryan.

She was arrested in June last year after police raided her home in Banbury and discovered heroin and class C drugs worth £1,900.

The drugs she had offered to students included Valium, diazepam, nitrazepam – described as a hypnotic drug used to treat sleeping problems – and alprazolam, a potent tranquiliser.

Ryan, who has since moved to Swansea, admitted three counts of supplying class C drugs as well as three counts of importing a class C drug. She also pleaded guilty to a further count of possessing heroin.

She was jailed for 15 months at Oxford Crown Court.

Detective Constable Bryan Groves, of Thames Valley Police, said: ‘ Rachel Ryan used her knowledge gained as head of business studies in her role as a drug dealer.

‘This was seen in one of her text messages where she offered a discounted price if a drug user purchased more than 100 tablets. Rachel Ryan had trust placed in her as a teacher. She had responsibilities and should have been someone for her students to look up to. She abused that trust and has let her students down.’ Banbury Academy is a secondary academy with 985 girls and boys aged 11 to 18. The school requires improvement, according to a June 2016 Ofsted inspection report.

It found evidence of widespread misbehaviour among students and academic standards well below the national average. Teachers were criticised for failing to clamp down on bad behaviour and for not providing engaging lessons.

Some 30 per cent of British pupils between 11 and 15 had tried illegal drugs in 2003, according to a governmentbacked study.

But by 2014, the level was down to 11 per cent of 15yearolds who had tried cannabis, and 2 per cent who had tried any other illegal drug.

Last year it emerged that schoolchildren were being arrested for dealing drugs at a rate of five a day.

Police caught almost 2,000 socalled ‘playground pushers’ in 2015.

Pupils as young as 11 were held for selling drugs including heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis.

Campaigners fear youngsters are being taken advantage of by older, more streetwise dealers who are luring them into a life a crime.