‘Sleazy’teacher put on sex offenders list
A SEnIoR teacher’s career was in ruins yesterday after he was put on the sex offenders register for quizzing schoolgirls about their sex lives.
Finding deputy head Kenneth Boal, 55, guilty of two sexual offences, a sheriff told him he had taken ‘an unhealthy interest’ in two teenagers.
one of the girls told Livingston Sheriff Court that Boal – who was in charge of child protection at a West Lothian secondary school – said he was ‘getting excited’ talking to her. She said he added: ‘I need to take a cold shower.’
The pupil, who was 15 at the time, said Boal asked her sleazy questions about her sex life.
He also made inappropriate comments about her blouse being unbuttoned and her skirt being too short, it was claimed.
Boal, of Edinburgh, was accused of using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices towards her and another girl, then aged 14, between 2006 and 2009. He denied the charges.
neither the girls nor the school can be identified for legal reasons.
Boal was suspended from his £55,000-a-year post on full pay when the offences came to light two-and-a-half years ago.
He now faces being sacked for gross misconduct and losing his pension.
His conviction will be notified to the General Teaching Counhad cil for Scotland, which has the power to disqualify him.
Finding Boal guilty yesterday, Sheriff Peter Hammond said the defence case was that he had been acting in a pastoral role and inquiring about the welfare of the pupils.
The defence also suggested that some of the comments been exaggerated or misconstrued.
But the sheriff said he found the evidence of both former pupils convincing and did not consider that they were exaggerating or being untruthful.
He added: ‘I am not convinced Mr Boal’s behaviour was due to naivety or misplaced zeal for his pastoral role. He was the head of child protection at the school and he was absolutely aware of the issues and the appropriate boundaries and routes for dealing with matters of that kind.
‘I’m satisfied he was taking an unhealthy interest in these girls. His conduct has amounted to lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour and brought it into the realms of criminality.’
He told Boal he would be sentenced on September 12, but that his name would be added to the sex offenders register with immediate effect.
‘Unhealthy interest’