Chester-le-Street deputy head who bit and hit child spared ban
A deputy headteacher who slapped, bit and scratched a pupil during an argument has been spared a ban from the profession.Claire Herbert, who worked at Red Rose Primary School in Chester-Le-Street, County Durham, was found by regulators to be guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel was told Miss Herbert got into a fight with a child on 18 June 2022 in which she caused reddening and bruising to various parts of the pupil's body.Marc Cavey, TRA chief executive, said despite Miss Herbert admitting the serious misconduct, it was "out of character" and there was not enough evidence of a risk of repeat behaviour.
The TRA heard the incident happened outside of school and alcohol was involved.One witness said she had visited the child shortly and the youth said Miss Herbert caused two bite marks, one on their hand and another on their head.
'Fight was a blur'
The child said also said they had been slapped and scratched by "Miss Herbert's false nails" and were "called fat" by the teacher.The panel were shown documents detailing the child's injuries including red marks, scratches and bruising to various parts of their body, including their face, neck, leg and hand.Miss Herbert, who was also employed as a special educational needs coordinator and deputy safeguarding lead at the school, admitted the incident was a "blur" but accepted she had a verbal argument which she said "became physical on both sides".The school referred the matter to the TRA on 28 April 2023 after Miss Herbert accepted a police caution for common assault.
'Genuine remorse'
The TRA panel found Miss Herbert was in breach of teaching standards and her conduct "could potentially damage the public's perception of a teacher".Whilst the panel acknowledged Miss Herbert's misconduct was serious, it noted the incident was isolated and "out of character" for the teacher who "appeared to have an unblemished record", working successfully in senior and trusted roles.They also said Miss Herbert had shown "genuine and significant regret and remorse", admitting her honesty about the events and "accepting the blame as the adult in the situation".Mr Cavey said the risk of repetition was "very low" and prohibiting Miss Herbert from teaching for a period of at least two years would not "produce any material change or serve any useful purpose".
Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
42 minutes ago
- BBC News
Woman assaulted after Leicester road accident dies
A woman who was attacked following a road crash in Leicester has died, police have were called to reports a BMW had overturned on Aylestone Road, near to the junction with Welford Road, at about 17:30 BST on driver was seen to leave the vehicle and then assaulted the woman in the street, police said.A 23-year-old man detained nearby has now been arrested on suspicion of murder. The victim, a woman in her 50s, was taken to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham but died on Thursday suspect was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, possessing Class B drugs with intent to supply, assault of an emergency worker, dangerous driving, driving while unfit through drugs and failing to provide a specimen. Det Insp Emma Matts said: "This woman was sadly subjected to a serious assault and was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries. Her family and close friends have remained at her bedside, and tragically she died this afternoon."Since the incident, a dedicated team of detectives has worked tirelessly pursuing all lines of inquiry to establish the full circumstances around what happened. Those inquiries will very much continue as we now move the incident to a murder investigation."I would like to thank those members of the public who have contacted with information about what they saw."But I would also still like to appeal to anyone who saw anything connected to this incident or filmed any footage - whether that was of the vehicle being driven beforehand through the city centre, the collision itself or the assault – and hasn't spoken to officers to please get in touch."
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Man jailed for killing brother with single punch in drunken fight at motocross
A man has been jailed for two years for killing his brother during a drunken fight. Ben Starr, 35, inflicted a single fatal blow to his brother Lee at a motocross event in Swindon in August last year. Lee Starr, 38, suffered a fatal head injury at the Foxhill motocross event in Upper Wanborough and died later in hospital. At a previous hearing Ben Starr, of Woodside Avenue, Ripley, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to manslaughter after asking for a 'Goodyear Indication' from a judge – the maximum sentence he could receive. At a sentencing hearing on Thursday Judge Peter Blair KC, The Recorder of Bristol, jailed him for two years. Sam Jones, defending, said at a previous hearing: 'This case on the facts is, in any view, a tragic case. 'Both the defendant and his brother were intoxicated at the relevant time. ' One of the eyewitnesses to the incident, the defendant's father, refers to in his witness statement of Lee after having punched his brother on two occasions and after the two of them end up on the ground, with the defendant restraining his brother, after which they are separated, he sees Lee direct a kick and a punch towards the defendant. 'The defendant in his own interview with the police describes that kick and punch connecting with him. 'But it is accepted on his behalf that the only evidence of those blows connecting come from him. 'The witnesses at the scene see a kick and a punch directed towards him but not connect with him. 'The basis of plea put forward on the defendant's behalf is that after the two are separated and after the attempted kick and punch are thrown, the defendant then accepts in that context throwing the single punch which he did, which caused the injury.' At that hearing Robin Shellard, prosecuting, said the guilty plea to manslaughter was acceptable. In a statement read to the court, Lee Starr's wife Jaye said: '(Lee) was cruelly and senselessly taken from me and our children. 'I never imagined I would be forced to put into words the unbearable grief that now defines our lives. 'We had a future full of hope, love and dreams together. But that future was stolen from us in a horrific moment, and now every single day is a fight just to keep going without him.' Detective Chief Inspector Phil Walker, who led the investigation, said: 'Our thoughts remain with the family and loved ones of Lee, who has lost his life in such tragic circumstances. 'A life has been cut short following what should have been an enjoyable weekend at a family event. A single punch has ruined the lives of a family.'
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I got a call from my autistic son's school saying he didn't show up... we found him HOURS later locked in a sweltering bus - he could have died
A severely autistic teenager sparked a frantic search after he failed to turn up at school - only to be found hours later slumped in the back of a bus that should have safely transported him there. Jimmy Hudson, 13, who is selectively non-verbal, fell into a deep sleep after he was left on the sweltering bus - which had been parked outside the driver's home at the end of his shift - for more than two-and-a-half hours. His distraught mother Tracy, 45, from Westcliff in Essex, has now lashed out at school transport firm Vecteo, owned by Southend-on-Sea City Council, for their 'negligence' and said an apology was not enough. 'A sorry doesn't cut it if my son was lying in a morgue,' she told MailOnline, adding Jimmy was physically unharmed but has been left emotionally traumatised by the distressing incident last Monday. Recalling the events of that morning, Tracy said she had escorted Jimmy - the first of 13 children picked up each day - onto the Vecteo bus as it made its way towards St Nicholas School in Southend. Aside from the bus driver, the vehicles always carry two personal assistants (PA) to help the youngsters. Tracy believed all was well, but around 10am she received a call from the school informing her Jimmy had never arrived. 'What is supposed to happen is that the children are led off the bus by the PAs and taken to a little alleyway that runs down the side of our school. It's completely safe and there's CCTV. Jimmy, who is selectively non-verbal, fell into a deep sleep after he was left on the sweltering bus - which had been parked outside the driver's home at the end of his shift - for more than two-and-a-half hours 'The teachers stand a bit further down in that alleyway waiting for the children to arrive. 'But hours after Jimmy left home, the school rang me to ask where he was because they could not find him. 'My first instinct was that something was not right.' At first, the school believed the teenager might be hiding somewhere on the premises and told Tracy they would conduct a thorough search. When they failed to find Jimmy, staff looked through security footage, but could not see him entering the school grounds. By this point, Tracy had made her way over to the school, which had also now involved Essex Police. Vecteo was contacted several times, but according to Tracy she and the school were repeatedly assured by bosses that Jimmy had 'definitely' left the bus. 'There must have been about four calls. Every time they said he definitely got off the bus, we saw him leaving. 'Then one of the PAs changed their story and said they thought he did leave, but they were not quite sure. 'My son is not a flight and fight child. He's not one to escape and doesn't cope in the outside world. He is riddled with anxiety and sensory process and is selective mute, along with his autism. 'The headmistress and me knew this was not him, it was so out of character. 'There were only two solutions - he was still on that bus or somebody had taken him.' The bus driver was by now asleep at home, but the police officer insisted that Vecteo contact him to search the vehicle. Outside temperatures that day in Southend were around 23C, but the internal temperature of the locked vehicle would have been significantly higher. 'The driver told me after that when he went back onto the bus, he could see a black coat at the back of the vehicle. He looked down and all he could see was a pair of legs. 'The driver then said four times to Jimmy, "you need to wake up" and every time he got louder, but there was still no response. 'He told me that he panicked, that he'd never felt fear like it because Jimmy didn't respond - and he didn't know what he was going to see underneath that coat.' Fortunately, the teenager did not suffer any physical repercussions, but Tracy said he is still processing the incident and has been emotionally harmed. 'Just this afternoon he's come home from school and said "they could have killed me, couldn't they?" And I told him yes, they could. 'You wouldn't keep an animal in a car, so why on earth is it okay for a child to be locked on a bus?' The shocking incident is the latest in a raft of complaints previously levelled at the transport company, which began in 2021 as a joint venture between London Hire Community Services and Southend-on-Sea City Council. These complaints were the subject of a council motion as well as a petition in 2021 calling on the council to stop using Vecteo. The petition attracted more than 1,000 signatures after service users alleged there were 'serious safeguarding concerns'. These included children and vulnerable adults being left on the side of the road, parents waiting hours for collection - and in one case, a child who was 'blue on arrival home' after they had an epileptic fit while on the bus. MailOnline was also told by a Southend-On-Sea City councillor of another distressing incident in which Vecteo employees attempted to deliver a child to the wrong home address. Former Conservative councillor Tony Cox, who now serves as deputy mayor and leader of the Southend Reform UK Group for West Shoebury told MailOnline that while the service level provided by the firm has since improved, scores of residents had continued to flag 'colossal safeguarding issues' against Vecteo. 'There's been a catalogue of these incidents over the last four years and it's just not acceptable. 'I cannot for the life of me understand how something like this could have happened - and then to even tell the parent their child has been offloaded and dropped at school, when that's not the truth. 'I do think there should be a serious probe into what happened here. 'It's just a miracle nobody has been killed.' MailOnline understands that Vecteo and Southend-on-Sea City Council have launched an internal investigation into this latest incident. A Vecteo spokesperson said: 'The safety and wellbeing of all children in our care, particularly those who are more vulnerable, is always our highest priority. 'We take this extremely seriously and are working with Southend-on-Sea City Council to urgently investigate these matters to ensure this cannot happen again.'
