Pictured: Maths teacher awarded nearly £45,000 after being sacked from job at all-girls grammar school when pupils ‘made up sex assault claims against him for fun in playground plot’
- Girls hatched a ‘playground plot’ to get maths teacher Jonathan Hawker sacked
This is the male teacher who was awarded almost £45,000 after he was sacked from his job at an all-girls grammar school after pupils allegedly made up sex assault claims ‘for fun’.
Jonathan Hawker, a maths and computer teacher, can be seen smiling and happy in a series of pictures with family and his pet golden retriever Ralph.
But his world was turned upside down when pupils at all-girls school Devonport High School for Girls in Plymouth, Devon made the ‘career ending allegations’ against him in 2021.
Despite having an unblemished disciplinary record during his five years at the school Mr Hawker was suspended, arrested and then fired for ‘gross misconduct’ – amid reports that the girls had admitted they lied about everything ‘because it was fun’.
The teacher has now been awarded £44,868 after a tribunal in Bristol decided that the school had carried out a ‘wholly inadequate’ investigation and failed to ‘provide a safe working environment for its staff, in particular the men.’
Maths teacher Jonathan Hawker had an unblemished record in his five years at Devonport High School for Girls in Plymouth, Devon, but was sacked when pupils made the ‘career ending allegations’ against him
Mr Hawker was suspended, arrested and then fired for ‘gross misconduct’ from Devonport High School for Girls (pictured) amid reports that the girls had admitted they lied about everything ‘because it was fun’
Mr Hawker, a father as well as a keen skier and mountain biker from Plymouth, is understood to have since found a new job but could not be reached for comment on the verdict.
Employment Judge Martha Street slammed the school’s investigation into the girls’ allegations,
READ MORE: Male maths teacher at all-girls grammar school wins £45,000 after being sacked over ‘playground plot when pupils made up lies about him assaulting them because it was fun’
saying: ‘A fair investigation would at the least have included a transcript of the interviews with them.
‘I make no finding on whether Mr Hawker committed the misconduct alleged.
‘What I can say is that if he is innocent, and a playground plot can end a career and destroy a reputation, the school is not providing a safe working environment for its staff, in particular for its male staff.
‘No reasonable employer would conclude that the younger girls were giving truthful evidence in good faith without question; that is, without exploring the contrary evidence including the contemporary evidence from the older girls of a plot against Mr Hawker.
‘In a career-ending case, the investigation has to be as full as possible.
‘This fell well short of that. The school accepted the evidence of the younger pupils without challenge or exploration and discounted, ignored or avoided finding contrary evidence.’
In June 2021, a student wrote a statement to her tutor that another girl – identified only as Student H – had said Mr Hawker had touched her leg, the hearing was told.
Ruth Morgan, the head of safeguarding, spoke to Student H, who said that during a lesson Mr Hawker had knelt down next to her and put his hand on her thigh, the tribunal heard.
In further discussions with other pupils, Mrs Morgan heard of a ‘similar incident’ described by students, as well as false rumours Mr Hawker had previously been suspended for ‘touching a Year 9 student’ and had an affair with a sixth former.
The hearing was told that on the instruction of the school’s acting Head, Beverly Bell, Mrs Morgan took statements from the girls.
The school’s assistant head teacher Ruth Morgan (pictured) carried out a report which concluded Mr Hawker ‘overstepped the boundaries’ and ‘repeatedly recited’ her opinion he was guilty of each allegation
One girl, Student D, reported that Mr Hawker had made her feel ‘very uncomfortable’, by ‘massaging my shoulders and stroking my arms’.
She said she had seen Mr Hawker stroking other girls’ thighs and that other girls, Student G and Student F, had said that happened to them.
The teacher was also accused of winking at girls.
As a result of numerous other reports from the girls, which all alleged serious misconduct, Mr Hawker was suspended pending investigation on June 28, 2021.
However, in July, two girls from the year above said they had been stood with the group of accusers when they admitted they tried to get Mr Hawker fired ‘for fun’.
When the older pair asked why, one of the girls had told them ‘because it was fun’ and another one added ‘yeah we said he touched our thighs trying to get him done for sexual assault’.
This was reported to Mrs Bell on July 9, before school year ended on July 23.
However, the tribunal heard the school ‘appeared to reject’ the older students’ account.
In September 2021, Mr Hawker was arrested in a ‘brutal experience’ after two of the original group agreed to police involvement, the hearing was told. It was his first knowledge of the allegations.
An internal investigation was launched at the school in November.
Mrs Morgan interviewed Students D, E, F and G – during which Student D withdrew some allegations and said she no longer wanted to be involved.
She didn’t interview the older students, L and M, about what they had spoken to the girls about – instead categorising it as ‘facts that had not been established’.
In December 2021, Mr Hawker was invited to an ‘investigatory interview’, where he said Student F and G had ‘concocted’ stories after he separated them for doing no work.
Mrs Morgan’s report concluded Mr Hawker ‘overstepped the boundaries and failed to consider the welfare of the students’ and ‘repeatedly recited’ her opinion he was guilty of each allegation.
At a disciplinary hearing in February last year, Mr Hawker was dismissed for gross misconduct.
In March 2022, police decided the charges against him would not proceed.
In the following April a temporary prohibition order by the Teachers Regulation Agency banning him from the classroom was lifted.
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