A North East teacher who had a sexual relationship with a teenager has been banned from the classroom.
Andrew Brook, 61, “sought to exploit his position of trust” by entering into an inappropriate relationship with a female student – known only as Pupil A – at Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham, Northumberland, according to the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).
Over the course of a year and a half, he exchanged personal messages with her, gave her a Christmas present and confessed he had feelings for her – after which he kissed her, had sex with her and told her he loved her.
Mr Brook, who started working at the school in 1995, also bought alcohol for the student.
Over seven months, after Pupil A had left the school, Mr Brook visited her at university, drank alcohol with her and continued to have sex with her.
In her written statement to the tribunal, Pupil A said: “Looking back at the relationship, I believe there was a lot of manipulation by Mr Brook.
“He was older and in a position of authority. I felt as though I could not say no to him in the relationship because of the position he was in.
“He had a lot of influence over me – he could have probably told me to do anything and I would have done it.”
She told the tribunal that she used to spend time during her free periods and lunch breaks in Mr Brook’s classroom as she did not have anyone to sit with and did not like sitting in the library as “it was obvious I was alone”.
Of the sexual relationship, the student said he would take her to a remote car park in his van “park up, put the back seats down, pull the curtains round, then he would tell me to lie down and take my clothes off and we would have sex”.
She also gave evidence that Mr Brook told her to keep the relationship secret, telling the panel: “I was not close enough to anyone else and by this point he was my only friend.
“Having to keep that many lies, I couldn’t really be close to anyone.
“It was a huge part of my life I couldn’t share with anyone.”
The panel determined that even though Pupil A was over the age of 18 when the majority of findings against Mr Brook took place, she was still considered to be a student at the school until the end of August of the year she graduated.
Mr Brook initially denied that he had had a sexual relationship with the student in a meeting with the school, which the tribunal panel deemed “clearly untruthful and misleading”.
According to the TRA, Mr Brook demonstrated a “complete lack of insight and remorse”.
He said in his written response to the proceedings: “I think by the time (Pupil A) has gone to university having been a student it should fall outside of the remit of the TRA and in this case be personal to me and (Pupil A).
“I feel very strongly about this kind of moral policing and will continue my concerns around rights in relation to this.”
He added that his conduct towards Pupil A after she left school was a “private matter governed by privacy laws between two consenting adults and should stay that way”.
His written evidence to the tribunal focused on the “frustrating” impact of the proceedings on his retirement plan of working with asylum seekers and refugees.
He also said: “I have moved on as have those involved” and described Pupil A as “an assertive character and a strong woman” and “mature and knew what she wanted”.
The panel found Mr Brook’s actions fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession and that he was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
They said: “The panel found that there was a clear power imbalance throughout the duration of Mr Brook’s relationship with Pupil A and this continued when Pupil A moved to university.
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“The panel accepted Pupil A’s evidence that the relationship was consensual, however, despite expressing that Pupil A’s departure from the school would bring the relationship to a “natural stop”, it continued.
“The panel considered that Mr Brook had used his influence over Pupil A to persuade her to continue their relationship.
“Pupil A explained in her oral evidence that she had previously realised on at least two occasions that she was ‘not comfortable’ and attempted to end the relationship, but Mr Brook had convinced her back within a week or two.”
He has been banned indefinitely from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
