Headteacher had affair with female pupil after seducing her with his 'beguiling' words, tribunal hears

A married headteacher had an affair with a female pupil after seducing her with his “beguiling” words, a tribunal has heard.

John Tomsett, 54, is accused of gross misconduct after a woman alleged she had a sexual relationship with him, when he taught her A-Level English in 1990.

The woman, who was 18 at the time, told a Teaching Regulation Agency tribunal that Mr Tomsett had also kissed her in his classroom at Eastbourne Sixth Form College on his last day in the job. It is thought he was 28 at the time.

Giving evidence at the hearing in Coventry, she said: “He pulled me towards him and I was thought it was like a line from a play or a novel. It was like my English literature classes were coming to life. Mr Tomsett was very intense; he had a wonderful way with words and was quite beguiling.

”In my diary at the time, I said he was not abusing his position only his wedding vows.”

After Mr Tomsett left the college, the woman told the panel Mr Tomsett, who is currently headteacher of Huntington School in York, picked her up in his car on a number of occasions to go for walks at local beauty spots where “consensual oral sex and masturbation” took place.

She said: “He told me he wanted to make love to me and he told me that a colleague at work said he would leave the door on the latch for him so he ‘could make love to me all day’ – I felt uncomfortable when I thought that another colleague knew about us.”

Defending Mr Tomsett, Andrew Faux said: “It was clear that there was a relationship between Mr Tomsett and someone who had been a pupil at the school and that relationship continued for some time.”

Addressing the woman, he added: “The relationship took place after he stopped teaching at the school and was very much between people who were equals and there was nothing inappropriate towards the pupil in school.”

Mr Faux also told the court the pair had met again in 2004 and 2011.

”You met in 2011 and had sexual intercourse on two occasions, once in Yorkshire in June then in November in Sussex. You had contact with him on a number of occasions, once in 2004 in Pickering, Yorkshire, where he showed you around the school.”

The court heard that in a letter written to herself, the woman described the affair as “a summer of wonderful romance and passion”.

Speaking to the woman, Mr Faux told said: “You put yourself forward as a confident young woman seeking an illicit affair.“

The woman replied: ”It felt like an unstoppable train. I tried to stop it by ending the relationship in the August.“

Mr Tomsett, who is a founding member of the influential Headteacher’s Roundtable, admits engaging in a sexual relationship with a former pupil but denies professional misconduct.

He has also denied allegations of failing to maintain professional boundaries by engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a pupil.

The tribunal continues.