Acclaimed headteacher to face re-trial over child sex claims

A jury at Durham Crown Court last week failed to reach verdicts in the trial of Anne Lakey, 54, who denied four counts of indecent assault and two of indecency with a child which were said to have happened when she was in her late 20s, between April 1988 and May 1989.

Her case was listed before Judge Christopher Prince for a brief hearing today (Friday, July 11) when Caroline Goodwin, who prosecuted, said there would be a retrial.

"The Crown will seek to move to a second trial in this matter," she said.

The trial, estimated to last up to seven days, will start on Monday, January 19.

Mrs Lakey, a married mother-of-one of Oxhill Villas, Stanley, County Durham, was a history teacher in Sunderland at the time of the allegations.

They were said to have happened with a boy who was not a pupil of hers. She vehemently denies the allegations.

She has gone on to be a nationally-acclaimed head teacher of one of the country's most improved schools.

Mrs Lakey left court without making any comment.

She is currently suspended as chief executive of the Durham Federation, which includes Durham Community Business College, a leading vocational training school in Ushaw Moor, near Durham, and Sacriston’s Fyndoune Community College, which has repeatedly been listed among the most improved secondary schools in the country.

The percentage of Fyndoune pupils achieving at least five good GCSEs including maths and English rocketed from 26 to 80 in just a few years.

Mrs Lakey entered teaching in 1982 and became head of Deerness Valley Comprehensive School, the forerunner of Durham Community Business College, in 2001.

Her work won acclaim and landed her a national troubleshooting role helping to turn round the performance of failing schools as part of the National Leaders of Education group.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, HM’s Chief Inspector of Education, described her as one of the best examples of inspiring leadership.