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Ross Spittal Biography
Who is Ross Spittal ?
A teacher was caught having a s*xual affair with an 18-year-old student when his partner found more than 800 emails, including nude photos of the teen, on their shared computer.
Ross Spittal, a former teacher at Inveralmond Community High School in West Lothian, had s*x with the teenager at his home on at least two occasions, a court was told.
The 31-year-old maths teacher, from Bishopton, Renfrewshire, began a romantic relationship with the pupil, who is believed to have been 18 at the time, in 2019, a panel heard.
The affair was discovered when his then-girlfriend, Kim Smyth, found more than 800 emails between the couple on the couple’s shared computer.
At a hearing in front of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) today, Ms Smyth, 32, revealed she found the messages on the student-teacher portal, Glow, when Spittal had been looking at her phone while drinking together. in his house.
She told the audience that on the day she discovered the emails, Spittal and the teen planned to meet.
When she called Spittal to confront him about the emails, she said she was “literally looking at nude photos” of the student while she was talking to him.
One of the emails sent by Spittal read: “Kim is at work, you can come,” Ms. Smyth said.
Spittal, the brother of Ross County Scottish Premier League footballer Blair Spittal, has admitted the relationship but said he thinks he should still be allowed to teach.
Referring to the former student, Ms Smyth told the hearing: ‘She was aware of Student A for years.
‘It was a running joke at school that Ross liked.
“It was surprising that the students fell in love with him, but I didn’t think he would act on it.”
Ms. Smyth, a former self-employed personal trainer of hers, said she was once invited to Inveralmond Community High School to give students a talk on working on their own.
Spittal was looking up the student on Facebook
Speaking of the visit, she said: “I came face to face with Student A when Ross brought her in a group.
When I asked if anyone had any questions, Ms. A raised her hand and said, “Is this the other woman?”
‘I thought that was very confident.
“That must have been a year or so before it all came out.”
Ms. Smyth said she saw that Spittal was looking up the student on Facebook and looking for nice messages about him after “feeling bad about teaching.”
She said Spittal messaged the teen using Glow at all times and described the tone of the messages as “chatting and joking around with a friend.”
She added: ‘We were friends with many of Ross’s colleagues.
We went out at night and went to some of his weddings. They told me that the students loved him very much, especially student A. He always downplayed him.
Ms. Smyth was asked what Spittal’s colleagues
When questioned by the panel, Ms. Smyth was asked what Spittal’s colleagues would say about Student A’s crush on the math teacher.
She said: “Other colleagues said that Mrs A was always hanging around her classroom and Ross recognized him, but he always laughed.”
When she was asked what she meant by Spittal ‘laughing’, she said: ‘It was always that she was a girl.
“They laughed because you never thought she would cross a line.”
Mrs Smyth added: ‘One Saturday night around 2am Ross and I were sitting around drinking and he kept looking at his phone. He was sending messages to student A in Glow.
‘I thought it was extremely strange behaviour.
“The day I found the emails on our laptop, a message appeared at the bottom of the screen, she was sending him an email.
‘When I opened the conversation, it was happening there and at the time, they were planning to meet up.
On May 22, 2019, I discussed multiple emails between him and Student A. I found 800 emails between the two dating back to early 2019.
‘There were nude photos of student A. He was literally looking at nude photos of her while she was talking to him on the phone.
He asked me not to tell the police or the school.
Ms. Smyth told the council that one email said, “Kim is at work, you can come over.”
On not calling the police, she said: ‘It’s something I regret now.
“He was in complete shock and heartbroken.
“It was up to her to say what she had done.”
Investigation
The relationship was later reported to Police Scotland, who found no crime had occurred, the hearing said.
At the time the emails were discovered, Ms Smyth had been in a relationship with Spittal for five years and had been living together for three.
Spittal’s legal representative, Claire Raftery, said her client admits to all of the allegations brought to her attention by GTCS.
She admitted to kissing the sixth-year student after an Easter school session in April 2019.
She also said that she had s*x with the same girl at her house in April 2019.
In May 2019, Spittal told the school’s principal, Susanne Young, that “nothing was going on at all” between him and the student.
Today, he admitted to being dishonest about the relationship.
Ms. Young said at the hearing that she was unaware of the “standing joke” that student A “liked” Spittal.
GTCS’s investigation will determine if Spittal should remain on the teaching record and be allowed to return to the classroom.
Ross Spittal Quick and Facts
- Ross Spittal was a teacher at Inveralmond Community High School, West Lothian
- While there, he began a relationship with a pupil, 18, a teaching panel was told
- His girlfriend Kim Smyth said she found more than 800 emails between the pair
- She said some included naked images of the schoolgirl that were sent to Spittal
- Spittal admitted relationship but said he believes he should be allowed to teach
- An investigation will determine whether he remains on the teaching register
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