Drunken teacher with carload of children gets five-year classroom ban

A DRUNKEN teacher has been banned from the classroom for being nearly four times over the limit with a carload of children – including a baby.

Mum-of-two Christina Manning, 36, was today struck off for at least five years by watchdogs who said it was “more luck than good judgment that nobody was hurt” by her behaviour.

The misconduct panel heard she had avoided custody when her 16-week jail sentence was suspended on appeal.

A district judge in Chester was told the teacher had been binge drinking at a barbecue on June 23, 2019 – the night before launching her own childminding business.

The next day, she downed a large glass of wine before setting off in her car, with children aged 13, 10 and one, to pick up her son from nursery.

Chester Magistrates Court heard staff at Parklands Community Primary School and Nursery, Ellesmere Port, smelled alcohol on her breath and alerted the police. Officers arrived as Manning was getting back into the car. She was tested at 130 micrograms, nearly four times the legal limit of 35.

Manning, from Little Sutton, Cheshire, admitted drink-driving and being drunk in charge of a child under seven. She was later jailed for 16 weeks and was being led to the cells when she was bailed pending an appeal.

Two days later, Chester Crown

Court reduced the jail term to a suspended sentence.

At the time, Manning was working as a supply teacher at Princes Primary School, Liverpool, and was reported to the Teaching Regulation Agency.

Banning her from the profession for at least five years, Sarah Buxcey, for the Education Secretary, said: “The panel finds that the conduct of Ms Manning fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.”

‘She was four times legal limit’