Teacher reprimanded over message he sent to 'vulnerable' student

HE CAN KEEP WORKING AFTER PANEL RULES HE WAS NOT SEXUALLY MOTIVATED WHEN HE SENT 'SIX INCHES' COMMENT

- By ABBIE WIGHTWICK

A COLLEGE lecturer has been cleared of sexual motivation after sending a female student a social media message asking what she would do if he were "pocket size, like six inches" and she could do anything she wanted with him.

Mark Robertson, a former hospitality and catering teacher at Coleg Cambria, was found to have inappropriately crossed professional boundaries by acting as a father figure to a "vulnerable" pupil when he sent what he considered a supportive message via social media, despite it being open to sexual interpretation, the Education Workforce Council fitness to practise committee determined.

In his message to the 18 year-old student, identified only as Learner One to protect her identity, Mr Robertson, who has represented Wales in culinary competitions internationally, told the student: "So imagine I am pocket size, like six inches tall, and you find me. You realise you can do anything you want with me. What would you do? And only you and me would know."

The comment was read out at the start of the hearing in October. But on the last day of the reconvened hearing on December 15 panel chair Susan Davies said the committee had judged there was no sexual or malicious intent in the Instagram message sent to the student at 10pm.