Married drama teacher who fathered a child with one of his teenage pupils after they started having sex on her 17th birthday is banned from the classroom for LIFE
- Teacher Simon Parsons started teaching the girl when she was 15 years old
- They started having sex on the girl's 17th birthday, when Parsons was 43
- He was jailed for 12 months at Bristol Crown Court but has been released
- A teaching panel today struck him off and banned him from profession
Simon Parsons started teaching the girl when she was 15 years old.
A married teacher jailed for fathering a child with a teenage pupil who idolised him has now been banned from the classroom for life.
Simon Parsons, a popular drama and theatre studies tutor at the school, started teaching the girl, referred to only as Pupil A, when she was 15 years old.
When she turned 16, he started kissing and touching her, education watchdogs were told.
They started having sex on the girl's 17th birthday, when Parsons, then 43, whisked her off to London on a theatre trip and they stayed overnight in a hotel.
The relationship continued for four years during which they had sex 'on numerous occasions', including on the premises of Castle School, Thornbury, near Bristol.
Parsons had taught since January 1988, a year after qualifying, and was also the guiding light behind the school plays.
The affair carried on after Pupil A left school and gave birth to a son. It was not disputed that Mr Parsons was the father, a misconduct hearing was told.
The teenage told her aunt what had happened in March 2014 and in November 2014 years after the affair. Parsons was later jailed for 12 months at Bristol Crown Court.
Parsons had taught since January 1988, a year after qualifying, and was also the guiding light behind the school plays
He admitted five specimen counts of abusing his position of trust by sexual activity with a female aged 13 - 17 and was ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years.
The court heard Parsons had been married for 12 years and has a daughter, aged 11, with his wife.
Today it was announced Parsons, now 54, had been struck off for life by the National College for Teaching and Leadership.
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Alan Meyrick, for the Education Secretary, said Parsons had been guilty of 'serious sexual misconduct' with the girl while he was her teacher.
He added: 'She was left feeling confused, lost and let down by a teacher to whom she looked up and trusted.
'The panel accepts that Mr Parsons had a previous good record and was a talented teacher. However, his actions were deliberate and sustained.'
Parsons, from Dursley, Gloucestershire, who has now been released from prison, failed to turn up at the hearing in Coventry and was disqualified from teaching in his absence.
The relationship continued for four years during which they had sex 'on numerous occasions', including on the premises of Castle School (pictured) near Bristol
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