Daily Record

Posh school miss had an affair with pupil age 15

Teacher faces custodial sentence

- BY GRANT McCABE

A TEACHER at a top private school faces jail after having a sexual relationsh­ip with a pupil for more than two years.

Nicola Park, 42, got close to the girl as her own marriage fell apart.

The then 15-year-old had initially spoken to Park as she struggled with a personal issue.

They soon went on regular secret trysts – including staying at Park’s home – with the teacher calling the girl “my angel”.

The teenager eventually wanted to end contact in 2020 as she moved to university.

She then revealed to her doctor what had happened before a police probe was sparked.

When officers searched Park’s home, they made a number of discoverie­s linking the pair including photos of a “sexual nature”.

Shamed Park yesterday appeared in the dock at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

She pled guilty to engaging in a sexual relationsh­ip with the pupil while in a position of trust between December 9, 2016, and April 14, 2019.

Park continues to be employed at the Glasgow school but her lawyer said she is set to resign.

Park, of Bearsden, near Glasgow, has had bail continued.

The teacher was

This was an abuse of trust by a teacher over a number of years SHERIFF JOHN McCORMICK

TO PARK IN COURT

assistant housemistr­ess at the school while also teaching maths and social education.

The girl spoke to Park in December 2016 about feeling “alone”.

Park told her she understood “having recently separated from her husband”, said prosecutor Jennifer McKee in court.

The teacher said the teenager could contact her outside school hours.

Regular emails were exchanged and Park went on to call herself “Auntie Nic” and would sign off with kisses. They met in January 2017 in Glasgow’s west end.

The court heard the pair met up on Sundays where kissing occurred.

Park was later involved in sex acts with the girl.

The teenager – now 18 – eventually moved to start university and believed the “relationsh­ip had ended”.

But the hearing was told Park struggled with the “breakdown” and “displayed manipulati­ve behaviour” towards her.

This led to the girl suffering from stress and ending up in hospital.

In September 2020, she went to her GP and revealed what had been going on with Park.

The girl went on to block contact with Park and spoke to the NSPCC.

On being charged, Park insisted: “There was no sexual activity.”

Sheriff John McCormick told her: “This was an abuse of trust by a teacher over a number of years. A custodial sentence is almost inevitable.”

 ?? ?? MANIPULATI­VE Teacher Nicola Park
MANIPULATI­VE Teacher Nicola Park

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