Teacher takes late disclosure case on TV after Banbury false sex offence claim

After magistrates ruled at a hearing before Christmas there was no case to answer, he has this week been completely exonerated by education services.

He is free to teach again after an internal inquiry described the allegations as ‘false’.

His case is to be featured by BBC News in a report on late disclosure of vital evidence to defence teams.

In this instance police and prosecutors refused to disclose vital CCTV evidence until two weeks before the court case.

It bears echoes of the case of Liam Allan who received an apology from the Met police for late disclosure of the evidence that cleared him of a rape accusation after two years.

The Oxfordshire teacher was accused by a sixth form pupil of a school in the Banbury area of touching her bottom while buying sandwiches at a supermarket.

The allegation was made on May 2 last year.

The teacher was immediately suspended and arrested at home a week later.

It took him seven months and a large chunk of his pension pot to clear his name.

He has been unable to work and has lost his 
expected earnings during this time.

On December 20, magistrates unanimously found there was no case to answer after watching the supermarket’s CCTV footage which had been denied to the teacher’s legal team in spite of repeated requests.

His case will be featured next Tuesday on BBC File on Four.

And there will be an in- depth report on the case in next week’s Banbury Guardian.

The teacher’s wife said: “I hope the police officer in charge and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will understand they caused many months of unnecessary anguish for us by withholding vital CCTV evidence from my husband.

“Thankfully, the dedicated efforts of his defence team have prevented a gross miscarriage of justice.”

The teacher has expressed huge relief that he was not banned from teaching and branded a pervert when completely innocent.

“This shows that such false allegations could be made against anyone,” he said.

“I was defenceless without that CCTV. The footage should have been released at the very start so my wife and I could have been spared nine months of hell.”

He has complained to the police and CPS.

“The whole CCTV evidence and its withholding is the national scandal the BBC are doing their programme on. They have visited this week to hear about my case.

“I am really keen to get my story out. The nightmare is nearly over even if there is still a long way to go to achieve justice,” he said.