Caged and lef t to roll on f loor at school, plight of autistic Jasmine, 9
THE father of an autistic girl yesterday told of his horror after discovering teachers had photographed her shut away in a small room behind a metal gate.
Alan Evans also found a picture of his distressed daughter Jasmine, then aged nine, rolling around the floor in her underwear.
He obtained the disturbing images after demanding to see the school file on his daughter because of concerns she was being mistreated by teachers.
Mr Evans found five disturbing pictures taken in early 2013. He immediately removed Jasmine, who is now 11, from Tregolls School in Truro, Cornwall, and home-schools her because the experience has left her too scared to rejoin a classroom environment. The school said the photos were taken shortly after it had reopened after being placed in special measures and i t now had a new headteacher and board of governors.
But Mr Evans said: ‘It was horrific. I saw the photographs and found them incredibly upsetting. She is behind a childproof gate, crying and on the floor in her underpants. They should have been helping her instead of photographing her.
‘To me the photographs are gross misconduct and I took her out of the school there and then.
‘She’ll never go back to school and suffers badly from anxiety and separation disorders.’
Mr Evans, a 51-year- old nurse who is married to Janet, 42, has slammed the local authorities and accused them of turning a blind eye to the photos.
Jasmine was excluded f rom school for hurting a staff member just before Christmas 2012, but while Mr Evans acknowledged she had learning and behavioural issues, he said staff at the school were failing in their duty of care.
He said: ‘Nobody will investigate this and I want to know why. I have approached the educational authorities and social services, neither of whom want to know.’
Mr Evans said the burden of tutoring his daughter at their home in Lanner, Cornwall, was ‘huge’ and the family was suffering financially. He added: ‘It’s had a massive effect on our lives and as Jasmine is non-verbal, she struggles to express herself.
‘She has no friends and no social life outlet so we have to constantly try to keep her amused. We are really hitting a brick wall but despite this she’s actually doing better educationally since she was taken out of school.’
Tregolls School, now an academy, said: ‘ This relates to a period of time when Jasmine was under t he care of a different staff, headteacher and governing body than we have today. As far as we are aware the school acted to the best of its ability at the time.
‘We take the dignity and safety of all pupils very seriously as evidenced by our recent outstanding grade by Ofsted for safeguarding.’
Cornwall Council said it could not comment on individual cases.