Teacher struck off register for sleeping naked next to a 15-year-old student
A music teacher, who picked up a 15-year-old schoolboy at a gay bar, took him home, and slept naked in bed next to him, has been suspended from his position, and his name has been struck off the teaching register.
Stephen Atkins, who taught at Drummond Community High School in Edinburgh, met the boy at the CC Blooms’ night club in 2008, engaged him in conversation and invited him back to his flat nearby. Mr Atkins, who was 50 at that time, allegedly had a glass of wine with the pupil, and cuddled him before going to bed.
The boy, a student at another school in the city, said that when he woke up the next morning, he found himself lying naked next to Mr Atkins, who was also unclothed. Once the matter came to light, teachers at the boy’s school reported Mr Atkins to the police. However, the teacher was not charged.
Mr Atkins did not attend the disciplinary hearing of the General Teaching Council for Scotland today, where he faced charges of acting in an inappropriate and unprofessional manner. In a statement to the police, which was given as evidence, the boy had said that he felt he was sexually assaulted, and that the teacher had taken advantage of him when he was either drunk, or his drink had been “spiked.”
According to the officer who interviewed Mr Atkins, the teacher claimed it was the pupil who approached him in the bar and engaged him in conversation. He also said that the pupil refused to take money from him in order to take the bus, and that despite saying to the student “nothing was going to happen”, the latter was still “giving him the eye” and “tried to kiss him.”
The disciplinary panel decided that, because Atkins had known the boy was still at school, he should be struck from the register. They also said that his name would be referred to the government to consider whether he ought to be allowed to work with children in future.
