TEACHER BANNED FROM WORKING IN SCHOOLS
GIRL LEFT ‘TERRIFIED’ AFTER GROOMING EXPERIENCE
A MUSIC teacher who groped one teenage pupil and started a relationship with another girl has been banned from working in schools for life.
Nicholas Walker, a former head of music at Ashby School, groomed the two youngsters aged 15 and 16, a disciplinary panel has found.
The first allegation dates back to 2001 and 2002, before Walker was a teacher.
The girl concerned described Walker as “huggy and complimentary”, asking her to feed him ice cream during the interval of a concert.
When she was 15, she said he picked her up in his car, drove them to an empty car park and tried to have sex with her.
A Teaching Regulation Agency panel was told that when she refused, they had oral sex and Walker performed a sex act in front of her, which left her “terrified”.
Panel chairman Roger Woods said: “At the time, she believed their relationship was special and only as she was older she appreciated she had been groomed and abused by him.
“She said this was the start of exploring her sexuality and found the experience terrifying.”
The panel also heard from a former pupil, who was 16 at the time when Walker had hugged her and kissed her forehead, sometimes touching her breasts and knees when they were alone.
She said on one occasion, having left as a pupil, she returned to school to see another teacher and he “came rushing towards her and took hold of her face with both hands and kissed her on the lips”.
The hearing was told she asked “What the hell are you doing?”, to which he replied “I’ve missed you, so you get a kiss.”
The girl called him “a showman” and said he would often call her “beautiful”, “gorgeous”, “sexy” and use sexual innuendos around her and other pupils.
She described one incident when Walker was eating a meringue that she had baked and he said that it was “the nicest thing to touch his lips since that girl”.
Mr Woods said: “He told her to be more like her friends who wore short skirts and tighter tops, especially if she wanted a boyfriend.”
Walker faced a trial for the first girl’s allegations in 2016.
He was found not guilty, but resigned from his job in 2017.
The panel said he had denied all the allegations and said his behaviour was “never malicious”.
He said he often made comments about girls’ hairstyles or clothes “to boost their confidence”.
However, the panel found the allegations were proved on the balance of probabilities.
They said said Walker’s actions were “deliberate, calculated and sexually motivated”.
Ben Chapman, presenting officer, said a prohibition order against Walker was needed for safeguarding and “to protect pupils and other members of the public”.
He said: “There would be uproar if there was a teacher that was allowed to continue teaching after these accusations.
“No parent would be happy to put their daughter in a situation where a man has findings against him such as Mr Walker has.
“These were young and innocent girls and sexually naïve.”
Making the decision to ban Walker from teaching indefinitely, Sarah Buxcey said: “The panel found Mr Walker was responsible for the most serious degree of sexual misconduct, having abused his position as a teacher and having formed a sexual relationship with a child.”
Walker has now been banned from teaching by the agency and can never teach again.