Head failed to disclose sex offender relationship

A HEADTEACHER has been banned from the country’s classrooms after she failed to disclose her relationship with a sex offender.

Caroline Reilly, 54, dishonestly failed to reveal the courtship while she was head teacher at George Betts Primary School in Smethwick.

She took over as head in 2009 and a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) disciplinary panel found that the following year, despite advice to the contrary, she failed to disclose the relationship.

The disciplinary panel also heard she misled an investigation into the situation by saying she was advised there was no reason to disclose that she had a relationship with the offender.

It also heard she failed to demonstrate insight into how her relationship with the offender impacted on her role as headteacher – and that she had acted dishonestly.

The panel found that in acting as she had, she was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct that could bring the teaching profession into disrepute.

RTS decision maker, Dawn Dandy, said the findings against Ms Reilly were “particularly serious” in that they also included dishonesty.

In imposing the ban she said: “In my judgment, the lack of insight means that there is some risk of the repetition of this behaviour and this puts at risk future pupils’ safeguarding.”

In their findings, the disciplinary panel said Ms Reilly admitted she had failed to disclose her relationship with the offender but had argued that she did not need to and that doing so would have breached data protection legislation.

They also found that by stating that there was no reason for her to disclose the matter she had misled an investigation into the matter.

They said that she had consistently denied any wrongdoing and had sought to strenuously defend her actions in not disclosing the situation to her employers.

The findings state: “The panel saw no evidence to persuade it that Ms Reilly had demonstrated insight into how her relationship with Person A (the offender) may have impacted on her role as a head teacher.”

The panel was satisfied that Ms Reilly had been dishonest in her failure to disclose the relationship and in claiming that there was no reason why she should disclose it.

Ms Dandy said that in the circumstances she considered a teaching ban was both “proportionate and in the public interest.”