Teacher who was sacked when students made sex assault stories up about him in ‘playground plot’ wins £45k
A TEACHER who was sacked when students made up sex assault stories about him in a “playground plot” has won £45,000.
Jonathan Hawker was the victim of an alleged attempt to end his career by pupils who said he assaulted them at a school in Plymouth, Devon.
But he has now been awarded £44,868 – his annual salary – by an employment tribunal.
Maths and computing teacher Mr Hawker was suspended from Devonport High School for Girls following the allegations that he touched girls’ thighs and massaged their shoulders.
But some older pupils reported that girls admitted they fabricated everything “because it was fun”.
After a “brutal experience” of being arrested at his home, he was then dismissed for “gross misconduct”.
The accusing girls’ evidence went unchallenged during the disciplinary process, an employment tribunal heard.
Mr Hawker’s appeal against his sacking was then rejected, despite the police dropping charges.
The tribunal has now ruled the school carried out a “wholly inadequate” investigation.
The school also failed to ‘provide a safe working environment for its staff, in particular the men”, the hearing held remotely in Bristol found.
Mr Hawker worked at the school from March 2017 until his dismissal in February 2022.
The hearing was told that a student wrote a statement to her tutor in June 2021 that another girl – identified only as Student H – had said Mr Hawker had touched her leg.
The school’s head of safeguarding Ruth Morgan spoke to Student H, who said that during a lesson Mr Hawker knelt down next to her and put his hand on her thigh, the tribunal heard.
In further discussions with other pupils, Mrs Morgan heard of a “similar incident” described by students – as well as false rumours Mr Hawker was previously suspended for “touching a year 9 student” and also had an affair with a sixth former.
The hearing was told that on the instruction of the school’s acting head Beverly Bell, Mrs Morgan took statements from the girls.
‘BECAUSE IT WAS FUN’
One, Student D, reported that Mr Hawker had made her feel “very uncomfortable” by “massaging my shoulders and stroking my arms”.
She said she had seen Mr Hawker stroking other girls’ thighs and that other girls, Student G and Student F, had said that happened to them.
The teacher was also accused of winking at girls, the panel was told.
As a result of numerous other reports from the girls, which all alleged serious misconduct, Mr Hawker was suspended pending investigation on June 28 2021.
But the following month two girls from the year above said they had been stood with the group of accusers when they admitted they tried to get Mr Hawker fired “for fun”, the hearing was told.
When the older pair asked why, one of the girls had told them “because it was fun” and another added: “Yeah, we said he touched our thighs trying to get him done for sexual assault.”
Mr Thomas reported this to Mrs Bell on July 9, but the tribunal heard the school “appeared to reject” the older students’ account.
Mr Hawker was arrested in September 2021 in a “brutal experience” after two of the original group agreed to police involvement, the hearing was told.
It was his first knowledge of the allegations.
An internal investigation was launched at the school in November.
Mrs Morgan interviewed Students D, E, F and G – during which Student D withdrew some allegations and said she no longer wanted to be involved.
She didn’t interview the older students, L and M, about what they had spoken to the girls about – instead categorising it as “facts that had not been established”.
In December 2021 Mr Hawker was invited to an “investigatory interview”, where he said Student F and G had “concocted” stories after he separated them for doing no work.
Mrs Morgan’s report concluded Mr Hawker “overstepped the boundaries and failed to consider the welfare of the students” and “repeatedly recited” her opinion he was guilty of each allegation.
A playground plot can end a career and destroy a reputation
Employment judge Martha Street
At a disciplinary hearing in February last year he was dismissed for gross misconduct.
Cops decided the following month charges against him would not proceed.
In April a temporary prohibition order by the Teaching Regulation Agency banning him from the classroom was lifted.
But his appeal in May against his dismissal was unsuccessful and he took the school to the employment tribunal.
Upholding his claim of unfair dismissal, employment judge Martha Street has now criticised the school’s investigation into the girls’ allegations.
She said: “A fair investigation would at the least have included a transcript of the interviews with them.
“I make no finding on whether Mr Hawker committed the misconduct alleged.
“What I can say is that if he is innocent, and a playground plot can end a career and destroy a reputation, the school is not providing a safe working environment for its staff, in particular for its male staff.
“No reasonable employer would conclude that the younger girls were giving truthful evidence in good faith without question – that is, without exploring the contrary evidence including the contemporary evidence from the older girls of a plot against Mr Hawker.
“The disciplinary and appeal panel failed in their evaluation of the evidence.”
The judge said the disciplinary panel and subsequent appeal panel were presented with “wholly inadequate” findings.
She added: “In a career-ending case, the investigation has to be as full as possibly.
“This fell well short of that. The school accepted the evidence of the younger pupils without challenge or exploration and discounted, ignored or avoided finding contrary evidence.”
Mr Hawker is reported to have found a new job but could not be reached for comment on the tribunal’s ruling.