Private school teacher on trip to Cuba let boy touch her bottom then had sex with dive instructor
A TEACHER at a top all-boys public school let a pupil touch her bottom on a trip to Cuba – then had sex with a scuba diving instructor in sight of colleagues.
Hayley Dimmock was warned four times about her inappropriate behaviour with the boy during the school trip, but she carried on regardless.
The 28-year-old then got drunk and slipped off with the diving instructor, who was working with the school party. She had sex with him so openly that she was seen by two passing colleagues – who had to stand guard to prevent pupils catching sight of her.
Miss Dimmock has now been barred indefinitely from teaching by a panel from the National College for Teaching and Leadership.
It said that after she received the four warnings, her ‘failure to observe appropriate professional boundaries became more overt’. She had also ‘shown no remorse for, or insight into, her behaviour towards’ the pupil involved.
Miss Dimmock taught chemistry at Bedford School, which charges up to £30,000 a year for boarders and
‘Intimate whispers’
boasts old boys including former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown.
She was considered an exemplary teacher, but it all fell apart when she went on the trip to Cuba last July, shortly after splitting up with her boyfriend. The panel considering her case was told that throughout the trip she kept being seen in the company of a boy named only as ‘Student A’.
He was seen touching her ankle and inner thigh, and to have his hand under her bottom. She also walked along a beach with him, separate from the rest of the group.
On another occasion she allowed him to move her iPod in and out of the front pocket of her shorts – and at some point back in England she had visited his home for half an hour when he was alone there.
The panel’s report said: ‘The school’s head of science, who attended the Cuba trip, indicated he felt Ms Dimmock and Student A had too much physical contact and that whilst Ms Dimmock was mixing with other students, Student A was beside her all the time.
‘The head of science considered, from the way Student A and Ms Dimmock had been acting, she had been “intimate with him for a while”.
‘He witnessed Student A touching Ms Dimmock’s hand, the back of her calf and her buttock. A biology teacher interviewed by the school confirmed that she had witnessed Ms Dimmock undertaking “intimate whispers” and private conversations and general touching with Student A.’
The panel ruled Miss Dimmock failed to ‘safeguard’ her young charges when she slipped off with the instructor at a party attended by pupils.
Its official report noted: ‘Ms Dimmock did not deny that she had had sexual intercourse with a diving instructor. Ms Dimmock was embarrassed by the situation. The liaison took place in the instructor’s room which was below the students’ accommodation.
‘Ms Dimmock indicates in her written representations that the curtains to the room were drawn. However, two members of staff passing the room were able to see what was happening through a gap in the curtains.
‘Staff had to prevent a group of students from walking near the room. Whilst there was no evidence that any students had seen or heard anything, the panel agreed that the drawing of the curtains was insufficient to prevent Ms Dimmock from potentially being seen by the students.’ Miss Dimmock did not appear before the panel. But she wrote to it saying she felt depressed during the trip due to a relationship ending.
She said that while she did let the boy take her iPod out of her pocket, it was only because she had a sandwich in one hand and drink in the other. Her teaching ban may be reviewed in three years.