Teacher admits lying about when he started relationship with 18-year-old student in 2003
Government officials are set to consider their decision in the case of a teacher who admitted lying about when he started a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old A-level student more than 20 years ago.
Lee Butler told a professional conduct panel he had “panicked” when he wrongly told his later employer at Bridgnorth Endowed School that the relationship with the teenager only began after she had left a previous school where he had taught her.
Mr Butler was later referred by Bridgnorth Endowed School to the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA), which held a hearing last week.
The address of the school was not heard at the three-day hearing, which was held online.
Mr Butler and the former student – named only as Pupil A – both admitted at the hearing that their relationship began in April 2003 and lasted for about one year.
The panel of three was told that Mr Butler had denied wrongdoing when he was questioned by headteacher Barry Worth at Bridgnorth Endowed School about the relationship.
“I admit all the charges,” Mr Butler, representing himself, told the panel.
“I admit I lied about when it first started because I panicked.”
Referring to an “error of judgement” which he “can’t justify or condone” Mr Butler claimed that the culture of the school he was at in 2003 “was not of the standards expected”.
