Music teacher sent explicit selfie and sex texts to boy, 15
A MUSIC teacher at a state school was sacked for sending a picture of his naked backside to a 15-year-old boy, a disciplinary hearing was told.
The image showed Dale Evans, 33, hunched over his bed wearing nothing but a school hoodie with ‘Mr E’ written on the back.
Evans was head of music at Cardiff High School whose former pupils include BBC broadcasters John Humphrys and Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen. While working at the school he used Facebook to befriend two 17-year-old boys, both former pupils at his old school, Tredegar Comprehensive near Merthyr Tydfil.
Case presenter Cadi Dewi said the teenagers strung their former teacher along by pretending to be gay in messages sent between June and December 2015. One of them passed Evans’s mobile number to a 15-year-old boy who then posed as one of the 17-year-olds in explicit text messages sent between himself and the teacher.
As well as sex texts, Evans eventually sent the semi-naked picture to the 15-year-old, still believing he was the 17-year-old former pupil, the hearing in Cardiff was told.
The 15-year-old was not a student at Cardiff High School but the picture was widely shared among students at secondary schools across the Welsh capital. Stephen Jones, head of Cardiff High School, said Evans admitted he had done ‘something stupid’ after social services reported concerns to the school.
Mr Jones said: ‘An image was described to me of Dale Evans showing his bum while bending over the bed. You could see part of his face and he was wearing a hoodie. I found the image shocking and extremely unprofessional.’
Evans was suspended from his job in December 2015 then sacked following an internal disciplinary hearing.
The panel was told police investigated but Evans was never charged with a criminal offence.
Colin Adkins, representing Evans, claimed the teacher
‘Consenting adults’
was the victim of ‘homophobia’ by the teenagers, who wanted to expose him as gay.
He also argued Evans had done nothing inappropriate as the 17-year-olds were ‘consenting adults’ and not being taught by him at the time. Mr Adkins said: ‘If the pupils hadn’t tried to out the teacher he would never have responded.’
Miss Dewi said: ‘ Evans in sending messages as an adult and registered teacher amounted to gross misconduct, and the fact they were the same age of those he continued to teach amounts to unacceptable professional conduct.’
Evans, who did not appear at the Education Workforce Council hearing, denies four separate allegations of unacceptable professional conduct. The hearing continues.