Pupil attacks on South East teachers 'horrifying', says union
Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said it was "horrifying to hear that multiple teachers in the South East have reported experiencing suffering serious injuries"."Sadly this is born out by our own data where teachers report being bitten, kicked and punched while teaching," he added."Pens, scissors and even tables have been used as weapons."Mr Wrack said the problem was worse in secondary schools, but they were also seeing an increase in this behaviour from primary pupils. "It's frankly outrageous that teachers have started to see this as just part of the job," he said.The government has announced a review into behaviour in schools. "We need counsellors in every school and an increase in alternative provision for pupils with higher needs," added Mr Wrack.
Last year a former teaching assistant from Sussex who quit the profession described her experiences. "I saw children trash a whole office or a whole classroom, throwing chairs and tables around," she said.Another teacher, who did not want to be named, told the BBC: "I've seen a student slap a teacher in the face. "They threatened me with chairs, I've seen several incidents of physical assault by pupils on teachers."Earlier this year a BBC investigation discovered councils in the South East had paid out tens of thousands of pounds in compensation to staff who have been injured by school violence.
New figures obtained by BBC South East using the Freedom of Information Act found that 106 injuries to staff were reported in the South East region to the Health and Safety Executive in 2023/24. Over a five-year period there have been 440 injuries recorded.The region covers Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and Oxfordshire, according to the HSE.Across the country, reports involving injuries to school staff caused by acts of violence have included loss or reduction of sight, concussion, fractures, dislocations and crush injuries.
Former teacher Marie Gentles, who is an education consultant and behaviour adviser, said: "We need to understand the reasons behind the behaviours."I do think some of it is linked to unmet need around special educational needs and mental health."A DfE spokesperson said: "As part of our Plan for Change, we are committed to turning the tide on poor behaviour, breaking down barriers to opportunity and ensuring every child can achieve and thrive."We've wasted no time in tackling the root causes of poor behaviour, including by providing access to mental health support in every school, making sure every child gets the fuel they need to learn through free breakfast clubs and expanding free school meals, and launching our new Attendance and Behaviour Hubs which will directly support the 500 schools that need the most help."
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Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Migrant, 26, is found guilty of groping three women while riding bike to car wash job from his taxpayer-funded hotel
The bicycle-riding resident of an asylum hotel near Gatwick Airport has been found guilty of groping three different women as he rode past them to and from his car. Qais Al-Aswad, 26, committed the attacks along the same bike path in Hortey, Surrey over a three week period. He approached the first woman after she had left the pub with her mum, 'slapping her bottom from behind' at around 9pm on May 23. Al-Aswad 'grabbed hold and squeezed her bottom' of a second woman at around 9pm on June 4. Eight days later on June 12, Al-Aswad passed a third woman on his bike and 'grabbed her crotch and vaginal area' at around 10.45am. Footage showed the riding a purple pedal bike while wearing distinctive jackets, trainers and an Air Jordan rucksack. District Judge Julie Cooper convicted Al-Aswad on all three counts and remanded him in custody until October 1 for a pre-sentence report. 'These are sexual offences and I need to know more about you before I can sentence you,' she told him. 'The same bike was used, the person wore your trousers and your camouflage and two-tone jacket that were found at your place,' the judge announced. 'Your phone shows you at the sites the attacks took place and your distinctive backpack was worn and the same method of assault was employed on each occasion.' Prosecutor Mr Alan Balneaves told the trial: 'The first charge is at approximately 9.00pm in Consort Way, Horley when the complaint was walking with her mother away from a local pub. 'This is the same route this defendant takes from Horley train station to his home at a hotel. 'There is CCTV that follows part of that route and it shows a person on a bike approaching the complaint from behind and slapping her bottom. 'The cyclist was wearing a rather distinctive camouflage jacket and blue greenish jeans and a black hat.' The prosecution case is the bike and clothing, plus the clothing linked to subsequent assaults along belong to Al-Aswad. 'This first complainant did not see the person approach and by the time the assault is made she does not get a good look as the person rides off,' added the prosecutor. 'CCTV at Horley train station shows this defendant in the same jacket and trousers.' The complainant told the court she had just left the Jack Fairman pub and was walking along the pavement with her mother, with CCTV showing the incident. 'Out of nowhere a guy cycled very close and slapped my bum and said: 'excuse me.' I did not see his face. He was wearing a camouflage jacket. 'At the time I was shocked. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before and it made me feel violated. It was from behind and I had no idea he was approaching.' Mr Balneaves said the second assault on June 4 occurred just after 9.00pm. 'She was walking along the same route as the first complainant and the rider approaches from behind and grabs and squeezes her bottom. 'There is footage from the street CCTV and Horley train station. 'We can see he is wearing rather distinctive trainers and there is phone cell site analysis that puts his phone in the area.' The court heard Al-Aswad was wearing the same trainers and had the rucksack when hotel CCTV recorded him leaving for the car wash that morning at 5.46am. The woman who had just left Horley station told the court: 'I was walking along on the pavement and all of a sudden there was a gentleman to my left on a bike. 'He squeezed my left bum cheek and rode off. It was quite a shock and I shouted a couple of swear words. 'The cyclist turned and looked at me and I stuck my finger up at him and he did the same to me, smiled and rode off.' The third assault was on June 12 at around 10.45am, when Al-Aswad insists he was at the car wash. 'A bike rider appears from the front and as he approaches and is about to pass he grabs her crotch vaginal area,' said the prosecutor. 'There is compilation CCTV of him riding his bicycle that shows him wearing his distinctive trainers, Air Jordan backpack and a two-tone jacket.' The woman told the trial she was near Waitrose in Consort Way. 'I had just left a shop to meet my partner and daughter and got my phone out when I became aware of a cyclist on the pavement. 'The cyclist was coming towards me and as the cyclist went past he reached down and touched my vagina. 'I turned around and shouted at him and as I shouted they stopped, looked around and he kissed his hand that he just touched my vagina with. 'I was shook up instantly. It all happened really quickly and I was caught off guard. I got one glance and could not see his face really because of his hand.' Earlier, Al-Aswad, wearing HMP Wandsworth-issued grey sweat pants and grey t-shirt, told the court: 'I left my country. I left my wife and kids in the camp and seek safety,' he said via an Arabic interpreter. 'I want to know what you are going to do with me today. I want to know that if I am found guilty, how am I going to see my wife?' During the trial, he denied he was the cyclist captured on CCTV, insisting: 'I have not assaulted any women. I have not assaulted anyone or kissed any women. I was at work.' He was identified via his distinctive Adidas trainers, but claimed: 'They are my trainers, but all of them borrow my trainers. This is not me.' Before the trial Al-Aswad was complaining from the dock: 'I want to see the people who complained about me. I have not done anything wrong. 'I have a lot of friends that use my clothes and use my bike. I have got a homeless friend from Egypt who climbs in through my window and I give him clothes. 'It has been two months for me in prison and I don't understand why I am in prison. I want to get out of this.' Al-Aswad was found guilty today following large protests outside the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel near Gatwick Airport on Saturday, August 2.
Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Telegraph
New Guildford pub bombing suspects identified
New forensic evidence has identified several prime suspects in the Guildford pub bombings and other IRA attacks in Britain during the Troubles. Four soldiers and one civilian were killed in the 1974 attacks at two Surrey pubs chosen because they were popular with British Army personnel from the nearby Pirbright barracks. In 1975 and 1976, the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven were wrongly convicted of the attacks in one of the UK's biggest miscarriages of justice. Suspects in the Guildford bombings and two other IRA attacks on British soldiers, now in their 70s and 80s, have been linked to the crimes by forensic evidence. That evidence was subjected to new scientific tests, ordered by the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) in Belfast. The ICRIR investigates legacy crimes from the Troubles at the request of victims and their families and has been operational since May 2024. The construction methods used by the IRA to make bombs during the 1970s terror campaign are at the centre of the investigation. 'Due to very significant advances in forensic science since these atrocities half a century ago, we have developed some highly significant leads,' Keith Surtees, the ICRIR's deputy commissioner, told The Irish Times. He said there was 'the real prospect of finally bringing' IRA members involved in about 70 bombings and shootings to justice. A bomb at the Horse and Groom pub killed the four soldiers and the civilian, who were aged between 17 and 21. It was thought to have been left by a man and woman posing as a couple on a date. Thirty minutes later, a second bomb exploded at the Seven Stars pub, injuring the landlord and his wife. The bombings happened on Oct 5, five days before the 1974 general election. Gerry Conlon, Paul Hill, Paddy Armstrong and Carole Richardson – the Guildford Four – spent 15 years in prison before their convictions were overturned. The Maguire Seven's convictions were overturned in 1991. The ICRIR is also investigating the August 1979 ambush that killed 18 British soldiers in Warrenpoint, Co Down, in the deadliest attack on the Army during the Troubles. The IRA detonated two large roadside bombs by radio control 200 yards away from the Republic of Ireland on the southern bank of Carlingford Lough. A British tourist was also killed by army gunfire in the attack, which has its anniversary next Wednesday. The third case centres on the M62 coach bombing in West Yorkshire on Feb 4 1974. A 25lb bomb was hidden inside the luggage of a coach carrying off-duty army personnel and their families. Nine soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, the Royal Artillery and Royal Corps of Signals were killed. The wife and two children of a soldier also died and 30 more were injured. The ICRIR said it wanted more cooperation with the Republic of Ireland to investigate the three cases further, but faced political obstacles. UK-Irish relations soured during the last government amid tensions over Brexit, but Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to 'reset' the relationship with Dublin. The commission's investigations have so far focused largely, although not exclusively, into Troubles-era crimes allegedly carried out by British soldiers. The last Tory government introduced an amnesty for witnesses to the ICRIR as part of the Legacy Act. The Act also stopped all new criminal cases and inquests into Troubles-era crimes, and was opposed by both unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland. The Irish government in Dublin took the UK to the European Court of Human Rights in a rare inter-state case over the Act, arguing it broke rules guaranteeing access to justice. The case still stands. The amnesty provision was later judged unlawful by the Northern Ireland High Court and Court of Appeal. The Government has said it will repeal and replace parts of the Act, which was a general election manifesto promise, but planned to keep the ICRIR. This will make it possible for prosecutions to resume as a result of ICRIR investigations but raises fears ageing veterans will be dragged before the courts. Altogether, 722 British soldiers died in the Troubles. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said on April 30 last year there were 202 live investigations into killing of UK armed forces and another 33 into the killings of veterans. They were all closed by the Legacy Act, when it took effect on May 1 2024. A UK Government spokesperson said: 'The Guildford pub bombing was a heinous act by the IRA targeting our British armed forces, their friends, and families. 'And there were many other such cases. Today more than 200 Armed Forces families are still searching for answers about the murder of their loved ones during the Troubles. 'That is why we are picking up the pieces of this failed legislation, working to get cooperation from the Irish Government and to put in place a system which genuinely works for victims, our brave veterans and their families.'
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Migrant, 26, who sexually assaulted THREE women while cycling home from work to asylum hotel is found guilty
A MIGRANT has been found guilty of sexually assaulting three women while cycling home from work to his asylum hotel. Qais Al-Aswad, 26, committed the heinous attacks over a three-week period along the same bike path in Horley, Surrey. 2 The first woman had left a pub with her mum before he approached her from behind and 'slapped her bottom' around 9pm on May 23. He approached a second woman from behind and 'grabbed hold and squeezed her bottom' around 9pm on June 4. Al-Aswad passed a third woman on his bicycle and 'grabbed her crotch and vaginal area' around 10.45am on June 12. CCTV showed the migrant wearing distinctive jackets, trainers and an Air Jordan rucksack while riding the purple pedal bike. Al-Aswad was arrested on June 19 and the same clothing was recovered during a search of his room at the Four Points By Sheraton Hotel in Horley. All three victims, whose identities are protected after being sexually attacked near a Waitrose car park, bravely gave evidence today at his trial. The first woman, aged in her 30s, said: 'Out of nowhere, a guy cycled very closely past me and he slapped my bum and said excuse me as he did so. 'I didn't see his face. He was wearing a camouflage jacket. 'I was shocked. This has never happened to me before. It also made me feel violated that someone thought they could touch me inappropriately.' The second victim, aged in her 50s, said: 'I was walking along when all of a sudden there was a gentleman next to me on a bike who grabbed my left bum cheek and then cycled off. 'I was shocked so I shouted out a couple of swear words. The cyclist turned around and looked at me. 'I stook my finger up, he did the same back to me and smiled before cycling off.' The third woman, aged in her 20s, said: 'As the cyclist went past me, they reached down and touched my vagina. I turned around and shouted at them. 'They turned around and looked at me and kissed the hand that they had just touched my vagina with. 'I was shaken up instantly. It all happened incredibly quickly so I was caught off guard and just wanted to get back to my partner and daughter.' Al-Aswad was caught on camera wearing the same matching clothing as shown in the CCTV capturing all three attacks. Analysis of his mobile phone also put him in the area at the time, Staines Magistrates' Court heard. Alan Balneaves, prosecuting, said: 'It's identification through clothing, same bicycle, similar route, cell site analysis and of course the same mode of assaulting each person.' In a police interview, Al-Aswad confirmed he was working for an Albanian man at a car wash near London Bridge. He would leave his four-star hotel around 5.40am before returning by train and on his charity-gifted bike around 9pm. The tracksuited migrant denied three counts of sexual assault by touching, claiming he was working with his cousins at the time of the offences. He also claimed the man in the CCTV wasn't him by suggesting his friends had access to his clothes and bike too. Speaking through an Arabic interpreter, he pleaded: 'I haven't done anything wrong. 'I haven't assaulted any women and I haven't kissed anyone. 'I left my country. I left my wife and kids in the camp and I seek safety in this country.' District Judge Julie Cooper found him guilty of all three offences and remanded him in custody at HMP Wandsworth for sentencing on October 1. It follows a large protest outside the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel near Gatwick Airport on Saturday August 2.
