Teacher remains in profession after firearms fine

Conduct panel finds that teacher’s firearms conviction for buying stun guns was ‘technical breach’ of criminal law
17th July 2018, 5:32pm

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Teacher remains in profession after firearms fine

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/teacher-remains-profession-after-firearms-fine
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A secondary teacher in Scotland who was convicted of a firearms offence has been cleared to remain in the profession.

Neil McKay, a technological education teacher, appeared before a General Teaching Council for Scotland panel, which found that his “fitness to teach is not currently impaired”.

On 12 May 2015, he was convicted at Ayr Sheriff Court of buying two prohibited stun guns “designed or adapted for the discharge of a noxious liquid, gas or thing namely electricity”, and later fined £750.

The GTCS panel found that “his conduct in relation to the commission of that criminal offence had fallen short of the standards expected of a registered teacher”.

‘Contrition and remorse’

However, the panel accepted Mr McKay’s “explanation that he did not know that the purchase of the items was illegal” and “concluded that this had been a technical breach of the criminal law”, also noting that the sentence imposed was “at the lower end” of those available.

The panel’s written verdict states that Mr McKay “had given up his shotgun licence which, although he had held one for a number of years and it was not connected to these convictions, he chose to relinquish because he wanted to distance himself from any connection with guns”. It adds: “This demonstrated insight on his part.”

The panel was “satisfied that [Mr McKay’s] contrition and remorse were genuine and sincere”, and notes the “glowing testimonials” provided by his colleagues and others, and that he had risen to the level of principal teacher.

The verdict states that Mr McKay is “a good teacher, a good colleague and one respected by pupils, parents and colleagues alike”. It adds that he “did not represent any risk to members of the public” and had “confirmed that he would deal with difficult personal situations differently in the future”. 

Mr McKay had previously told the panel that his actions stemmed from “a genuine mistake and misunderstanding on his part”, having bought two “key rings” from eBay which were “advertised as emitting a small electrical charge and noise” and that “At no point during the purchasing process was it brought to his attention that buying those items was a criminal offence.”

The panel heard that at the time he was going through “a difficult time in his private life”, having “accrued a large amount of debt” that led to his health deteriorating.

He also explained that there was “a high amount of anti-social behaviour and other criminality in the area where he lived” and that he “had been verbally abused near his home and his home had been vandalised”.

Mr McKay also admitted to two other allegations, about failing to notify his employer that he was facing criminal charges.

However, the panel concluded that “there had been no deliberate concealment of his being charged” and that these allegations “did not necessarily mean that his fitness to teach was impaired at the time”.

An allegation that Mr McKay approached a member of South Ayrshire Council in a public bar, to speak about his employment situation “in a loud and persistent manner” was found not proved.

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