Teacher in court ordeal for ‘grabbing unruly pupil by the arm’
Judge’s fury at ‘flimsy’ case
A JUDGE has criticised prosecutors for dragging a respected teacher to court for assault after claims she grabbed the arm of a disruptive pupil.
Jean McCormick, 67, who has a 38-year unblemished career in the profession, allegedly held the eight-year-old boy as he ran away from her, leaving a bruise.
But a district judge acquitted Mrs McCormick of the charge after hearing that the pupil’s ‘overprotective’ mother had a ‘vendetta’ against Overleigh St Mary’s Primary School in Chester.
District judge Nicholas Sanders criticised the Crown Prosecution Service for bringing the case on
‘Evidence fell a long way short’
‘flimsy’ evidence, saying it had fallen a ‘very, very long way short’ of securing a conviction.
‘It is deeply sad that a lady of Mrs McCormick’s experience should be dragged through the court on what really comes down to the flimsiest of evidence, fuelled by an irrational and over-protective mother,’ he said.
‘There’s absolutely no way a court could convict anyone on the evidence before it here.’
The incident happened at the end of a PE lesson on June 6 last year, Chester magistrates heard. Another parent, who had arrived early to pick up her son, said she was ‘shocked’ after watching Mrs McCormick shout at the boy for running and grab his arm.
Referring to Mrs McCormick, the witness claimed: ‘ She was obviously frustrated and angry. I turned and looked and she had hold of him. I was just startled. It was so forceful. I was shocked.’
She told the boy’s mother, who in turn contacted the police.
She also complained to the school’s board of governors and education watchdog Ofsted.
Mrs McCormick said she had simply placed her hands on the boy’s shoulders to stop him running, but was arrested and eventually charged with assault.
Ronan Molloy, prosecuting, asked the teacher whether her ‘patience had been wearing thin’ and she had ‘lost it’ because the boy had been calling other children names and being generally disruptive during her class. But Mrs McCormick replied: ‘That’s not correct. I wasn’t even cross with him, slightly frustrated, yes.’
The teacher denied responsibility for bruising on the boy’s arm, adding: ‘Most children are covered in bruises at that age, just from being in the playground and playing games, being with brothers and sisters.’
Ryan Rothwell, defending, suggested there was a history between the boy’s mother and the school, saying there might have been a ‘vendetta at play’.
But yesterday the mother- ofthree told the Daily Mail: ‘The court painted a very unfavourable picture of my parenting which was difficult to hear. I don’t believe I’m over-protective, all I was doing is standing up for my son.
‘He is autistic and has special educational needs. On the day this happened he was anxious because he had a different teacher to usual and he doesn’t cope with change very easily.
‘I don’t have a vendetta against the school, I was just trying to fight to get my son the help he needs. Now he is at a new school with one-to-one help he is thriving and happy.’
After the case a tearful Mrs McCormick, who is from Chester, said she just wanted to draw a line under what had happened.