A maths teacher at the centre of the row over sex offenders in schools broke his silence today as it emerged that he had a 19-year marriage with the teenage pupil he indecently assaulted.
William Gibson, 59, was suspended from his full-time post at Portchester Boys’ School in Bournemouth on Saturday after local authorities learnt of his conviction for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl in 1980.
Mr Gibson had previously worked briefly at three schools in the North East, being dismissed only when his past was revealed by criminal records checks.
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His details were not entered on the confidential List 99 of adults barred from working in schools maintained by the Department for Education.
He told the Bournemouth Echo newspaper: “I’m not a paedophile. I’m not a risk to children.
“I want people to know that. I know what I did was wrong back in 1980 and I regret my actions but it’s not as black and white as everyone thinks. I hope people will come to the conclusion that I have never abused anyone.”
Mr Gibson was fined £60 in 1980 for the indecency offence on the girl.
At the time he was a teacher at a school in North East. His victim was a pupil there, although he says that he did not teach her. The relationship was discovered when he sent a bunch of flowers to her home.
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They married soon afterwards and later had three children, two boys and a girl. The marriage lasted for 19 years, a local newspaper reports.
After the 1980 court case, Mr Gibson resigned from the school and took a series of other jobs. Details of a later conviction for fraud which ended with a two-year prison sentence in 2000 have yet to emerge although they are not thought to be related.
After completing his sentence, he returned to teaching, ultimately moving to Dorset where he taught intermittently at Portchester School as a supply teacher, working full-time there this term with Years 7-11, through London-based agency Step Teachers, the Echo reported.
Last January he received a letter from the Department for Education clearing him to work in the classroom again. Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, had personally reviewed the case.
He said: “Of course, this has all been hovering over me for years but I love teaching and I think I have something to offer.”
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Mr Gibson added that he had written a letter of apology to the school and now intended to go into hiding because of the publicity surrounding the issue.
But the father of the girl sexually assaulted by Mr Gibson said that he should not have been able to return to the classroom.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told The Journal newspaper in Newcastle: “The minister was wrong to allow Gibson to teach again. People like him should never be allowed back in a classroom.”
Downing Street said today that Ms Kelly would make a statement to MPs on Thursday, giving details of the outcome of her review into cases of sex offenders being allowed to teach in schools.
No 10 denied Opposition claims that Ms Kelly may have misled the Commons last week, by saying her department’s List 99 banned offenders from working with children for life and Tony Blair’s official spokesman insisted that the Prime Minister retained full confidence in his embattled education chief.
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After further allegations about teachers convicted of sex offences being employed in schools with Whitehall’s blessing came to light, the spokesman said: “We all understand why people want speed in dealing with this issue but I think it’s important that we reassure the country that individual cases, difficult cases, have been looked at in the review.
He added: “What Ruth Kelly is doing is carrying out a thorough root and branch review of this whole issue. I think the time to talk about List 99 and the whole issue is on Thursday and that we shall do.”
Chris Bradey, the head teacher at the Bournemouth school that employed Mr Gibson, said that he felt “completely powerless” after it was revealed he was unaware of the teacher’s history. Step Teachers insisted it was prevented from telling the school of the teacher’s past for data protection reasons.
Parents of children at the Bournemouth school spoke today of their concerns.
Heather Askham, from Bournemouth, dropped her 11-year-old son at the school this morning and said: “I don’t think the school are at fault. A lot of it is down to (Ruth) Kelly. They actually knew that he had this record and let him teach at this school.
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“I was absolutely disgusted when I heard that it had got this far. He was my son’s maths teacher. He used to come in and say he was miserable and Mr Gibson would threaten the whole class with detention.”
Tamaz Kiknadze dropped his 12-year-old son at the school and said: “I went crazy yesterday and I was really worried. They have no right to teach when they do something like that.”
Keith Mitchell, chair of the school’s governors, said it was “school as usual” today.
He said: “I have spoken to 10 parents or so and governors and once they have heard the facts of the case about the 15-year-old girl who he then married and they know there’s no question of impropriety at school, they feel reassured.”
But Margaret Morrissey, who chairs the Dorset Federation of Parent Teacher Associations which covers Portchester, said: “It is very frightening.
“We have been assured by the chair of governors that the teacher was absolutely fine whilst he was in the school.”
Ms Morrissey, also spokeswoman for the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, accused Ms Kelly of attempting a “cover-up” over the revelations that sex offenders were working in schools.
“She did not know what was happening in her department. She did not know who was going on the register and who wasn’t. She was passing out letters, she was signing things she didn’t understand,” said Ms Morrisey.
She said anyone who committed sex offences involving children, however minor, should be banned and the system of keeping separate lists - the Department for Education’s List 99 and the sex offenders register - should end.
David Cameron, the Conservative leader, demanded that Ms Kelly hand over control of an inquiry into her department’s handling of paedophile teachers to an independent figure.
Alistair Thomas, a spokesman for the agency, said Mr Gibson was suitable to teach and a letter from Ms Kelly backing him had been “powerful”. Mr Thomas said the agency was “trying to support” Mr Gibson, adding: “The world only knows half the story at the moment.”
The letter from Ms Kelly, sent in January last year and signed by an official in the department, stated that she was aware of Mr Gibson’s convictions for indecent assault and fraud but had decided “not to bar or restrict your employment”.
It added: “The Secretary of State has given weight to the fact that you accept that your actions were unwise and your behaviour was unacceptable; you understand the related consequences of your actions; and you have undertaken teaching work in recent years to good effect.”
The review of the role of ministers in making such decisions was launched last week after it emerged that a junior education minister had cleared a PE teacher, Paul Reeve, to teach in a Norfolk school despite his police caution for accessing child pornography.
Although Ms Kelly has so far received the support of Downing Street, one of her own Labour backbench colleagues suggested yesterday that she had only days in which to retrieve her position.
David Willetts, the Shadow Education Secretary, said today taht confidence in Ms Kelly was “ebbing away”.
It also emerged that Ms Kelly’s predecessor, Estelle Morris, cleared a science teacher named on List 99 to work in all-girl schools because evidence suggested he was a risk only to young boys.