A TEACHER who paraded raunchy photographs of his ex-wife and displayed a banner outside his home making sexual references to her has been struck off the teaching register for two years.
John Troupe, 58, a former graphics and technology teacher at Westbourne high, Ipswich, did not attend the hearing last week.
Mr Troupe had written to the General Teaching Council England saying he had no intention of teaching again and offered no evidence in his defence.
The GTC heard how Mr Troupe, who was married for eight years, was convicted of a string of offences against his wife and her family over a five-year period, after the breakdown of their relationship.
Kate Levy, presenting the case against Mr Troupe, said the harassment of his ex-wife and family started in May 1997, when he was still a teacher at the Suffolk school.
She told the council that Mr Troupe was convicted of using threatening or abusive behaviour after he used a lump-hammer to smash the window of a car parked on his former wife’s drive. He pleaded guilty and was given a 12-month conditional discharge.
The disciplinary panel heard how Mr Troupe’s behaviour worsened after he retired from the school in December 2001, after 40 years as a teacher.
Giving evidence against the former teacher, Ms Levy read a letter addressed to the GTC from Suffolk Constabulary. It described Mr Troupe’s actions, which had led to several court appearances during the past five years.
Ms Levy said that in the January following his retirement, Mr Troupe was convicted of using threatening behaviour and harassment.
She said that South East Suffolk magistrates’ court heard how Mr Troupe had paraded photographs of his former wife naked around the cul-de-sac where he lived, showing them to her daughter and husband.
On another occasion, he displayed a banner which made sexual references to his ex-wife.
Mr Troupe was sentenced to 60 hours’ community service and a restraining order was placed against him, forbidding any contact with members of his ex-wife’s family, in particular her daughter, who lived on the same estate as Mr Troupe.
The GTC heard that Mr Troupe had been convicted of offences on several occasions after this, including breaking the restraining order and assaulting his former stepdaughter’s husband.
Suspending Mr Troupe for two years, Andrew Baxter, the panel’s chairman, said: “We are satisfied that the allegations set out in the evidence have been substantiated. We believe they amount to inappropriate professional conduct for a registered teacher.”
