‘MR PERV’ TOUCHED UP GIRL PUPILS AT SCHOOL TEACHER BANNED

VIOLATION: Christopher Hird is banned from teaching

for life A SCIENCE teacher dubbed “Mr Perv” by pupils has been banned from teaching for life for touching female students.

Christopher Hird, 51, was head of science at a school when he touched female pupils in a “sexually motivated” manner.

The former teacher was accused of four counts of sexually assaulting pupils aged 11 to 16 but was cleared of the charges in 2013.

Now a disciplinary panel has found him guilty of unacceptable conduct and banned him from teaching indefinitely.

The National College for Teaching and Leadership hearing was told Mr Hird touched several different female pupils at South Holderness Technology College in Hull, East Yorks, until he left in 2012.

NCTL official Paul Heathcote said he agreed with the recommendation of the disciplinary panel that Mr Hird should be banned from teaching for life.

He said: “Mr Hird’s behaviour continued over a considerable period of time and involved a number of different pupils.

“Mr Hird continued to deny the allegations throughout and has shown no insight into his behaviours and their effect on others.”

The former chemistry teacher did not attend the hearing but, in a written statement, he admitted to having been involved in a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old girl, referred to as Pupil C.

The relationship lasted for more than a year, but Mr Hird claims the “relationship did not begin before she ceased being a student”.

In written evidence supplied to the hearing, Pupil C stated that she asked Mr Hird how they would stay in touch as she would not see him anymore after she left the school.

She claims that Mr Hird said “it doesn’t have to be like that” while patting her knee. The pair exchanged phone numbers and a few days later arranged to meet up where, according to her evidence, they “stopped somewhere to kiss passionately”.

The panel also found Mr Hird guilty of “sexually motivated” touching of two other girls, including on their thigh and on their cheek.

The panel found Mr Hird not guilty of almost a dozen other allegations of inappropriate touching due to a lack of evidence.

However, in evidence submitted to the panel, the headteacher of the college described the girls who made unproven allegations as “mature, hard-working…not likely the sort who attempted to make things up.”

Referring to the accusations of inappropriate touching, Mr Hird said he “refutes all allegations against him”.

Mr Heathcote concluded: “Mr Hird’s conduct involved an abuse of his position or trust and his conduct involved a violation of the rights of pupils.”