Teacher in f ling with pupil will not f ight school ban
No appeal papers lodged
THE teacher struck off after a prom night fling with a pupil will not fight the decision to ban her from classes despite claiming she was the victim of a set-up.
Devout Christian Shona Wilkie, formerly known as Isabelle Graham, was judged unfit to teach after a disciplinary panel heard allegations she spent three hours in bed with a 17-year-old boy following the school event.
Mrs Wilkie, 28, resigned from her job as a French teacher at Whitburn Academy, West Lothian, after the claims emerged and was barred from the profession after a General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) hearing in August.
She had been expected to fight for her career in court after insisting she had no memory of what had happened and that her drink must have been spiked. But it has emerged she has snubbed the chance to clear her name.
A source said: ‘Her name is now removed from the teaching register, that’s the end of it. She had the option to seek a judicial review at the Court of Session.
‘But despite her protestations of innocence, no papers have been lodged within the timescale allowed to raise an appeal.’
A probe into Mrs Wilkie’s behaviour was launched after a photograph emerged on social media showing a blonde woman lying asleep in hotel bed while a student, said to be the 17-year-old, was standing at the door holding a bottle of champagne.
The image was captioned by one student with the words: ‘Poor show from Miss Graham.’
Carla Roth, who presented the case for the GTCS, said the incident had left pupils ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘shocked’, adding: ‘You have to question what sort of role model was provided in this instance.’
Turning to the teacher’s claim that her drink had been spiked, she said this was ‘essentially no more than a speculation’.
The case presenter to the panel in August added that Mrs Wilkie was ‘only willing to consider one
‘Not in control of the situation’
version of events’ – that she had been drugged rather than that she may have simply drunk too much.
Mrs Wilkie, who was engaged at the time, denied the allegations. Her husband Andrew, a trainee clergyman, has stood by her, they married last year and she gave birth to their baby boy in August.
Mr Wilkie defended his wife’s character in a statement to the GTCS panel in which he said he had ‘no doubt’ that the allegations are false.
He said in his statement: ‘In all the time I have known her, Mrs Graham has always put her Christian faith above all other things.
‘I have never had any doubt that the allegations made against Mrs Graham were false.’
Mrs Wilkie chose not to attend the hearings or give evidence via video link but she provided a statement in which she said she was the ‘victim’ and if the photograph was of her, it had been posed and was of someone who was ‘not in control of the situation’.
She said she had been an ‘active and practising Christian’ who was ‘waiting until marriage’ before having sex.
A police investigation was also launched after the photo emerged but the case was not brought to court because of a lack of evidence.
Detective Sergeant Keith Mailer, who was part of the probe, described CCTV which showed Mrs Wilkie and the student kissing.
He said: ‘Throughout the footage there’s no sign that Mrs Graham is under the excessive influence of drugs or alcohol. The way she moved and conducted herself suggested someone who was making conscious decisions.’
Mrs Wilkie and her husband moved to Aldershot, Hampshire, and began working for Christian charity the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association.
However, an investigation was launched when details of the GTCS findings emerged.
A spokesman for the Court of Session confirmed no paperwork had been lodged by Mrs Wilkie, while the GTCS said it could not comment on individual cases.
Last night, Mrs Wilkie could not be contacted for comment. Her father Paul Graham, a pastor with the Destiny Church in Edinburgh, refused to comment.