Music teacher ‘took teenage pupils home for drunk sex’
A MUSIC teacher who took two sixth-formers home for drunken sex sessions was allowed to keep her job for almost a decade – until one of them told a counsellor, who informed police.
Laurie Softley’s liaisons were a running joke among her pupils, some of whom told a teacher: ‘She’ll buy you a drink – and apparently she’ll do more than that.’
Softley, 34, faces a lifetime ban from the classroom after allegations of unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute were found proved.
The Teacher Regulation Agency heard she plied one ‘bewildered’ sixth-former with alcohol during a Christmas clinch at her home in 2012 – almost five years after a boozy one-night stand with another boy. The teacher was handed a final warning over the 2008 incident following an investigation. But the matter was never made public by school bosses – and the warning was expunged from her record three years later.
Her conduct came to light last year when her second victim told a counsellor. The student told a misconduct hearing in Coventry how Softley kissed him before taking off her shirt. ‘I saw her topless... I performed a sex act on her.’
School chiefs at The Ecclesbourne School in Duffield, Derbyshire, were alerted when a teacher overheard pupils joking about being bought drinks by Softley at an end-of-year prom. But an investigation was dropped after denials from both teacher and pupil.
Softley’s first victim told the hearing they had sex at her flat – which she shared with another teacher – after playing pool in a pub. He said the teacher, who is now believed to be married, performed a sex act on him.
Softley was suspended after police contacted the school over the allegations.
A former pupil said: ‘Seeing her in the news for this kind of thing doesn’t surprise me. There were plenty of rumours which went around about her conduct during my time there.’
A spokesman for Ecclesbourne said: ‘The decision to retain Miss Softley’s employment in 2008 was taken... after a thorough investigation. As soon as allegations surfaced (over the second incident), we conducted an exhaustive internal inquiry... but we were not presented with sufficient evidence for us to conclude that these were anything more than unfounded rumour and gossip.
‘When we were informed of the police’s investigation into the same allegations... we took the instant decision to suspend Miss Softley.’
Derbyshire Police said: ‘The teacher was interviewed and as a result no prosecutions were made and the case was referred to the Derbyshire Safeguarding Children’s Board.’