A SCOTS teacher who sent an explicit sexual video of himself to a pupil, bombarded her with messages and made sexualised comments to her in front of younger schoolchildren has been banned from teaching for two years.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) heard a litany of complaints about Alexander Lamont, who targeted a 17-year-old girl in her final year of school with inappropriate touching and sleazy comments, sent graphic messages from his personal email account and on social media, and matched with her on the Bumble dating app.

He had been employed by South Lanarkshire Council but, it is understood, was sacked when the allegations first came to light in 2019. 

The watchdog heard that when the girl expressed concern about their interactions, Lamont told her that no one would believe her and that she was making "a drama out of nothing".

He further said that there would be gossip about the girl and asked her how her mother, who also worked in the school, would react. 

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Findings of an investigation into Lamont's behaviour heard that S2 pupils - aged 12 and 13 - told their teacher that is would be "inappropriate" to have a relationship with the girl, who was volunteering as a teaching assistant in his classroom.

In class, in front of young pupils, he asked the teenager about her sexual experiences, if she had a boyfriend and whether she had endured any sexual assaults.

Lamont said, also in front of the S2 class, that the girl was "glamorous and beautiful" and touched her neck, shoulders and elbow. On another occasion he touched her sides and her leg.

The incidents, which began in August 2018, escalated when he gave the girl his personal email address and Snapchat details in October of that year and began sending her graphic content.

While saying repeatedly during the correspondence that their exchanges were "inappropriate" and calling the teenager his "little secret", Lamont went on to send multiple sexualised messages, photographs and a video. 

He told the girl she was a "tease" and to delete his emails and not to take screenshots of his Snapchat messages while asking her to send him indecent images of herself.

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When the school held a Halloween dance, Lamont made sexual suggestions about the girl's fancy dress costume, asked her to wear it to class and asked her to put make up on him. 

In February 2019 the teacher matched with the teenager on the dating app Bumble and sent her further suggestive messages, including saying: "Not long now till you’re a big girl".

The hearing heard that, while no physical contact took place between the pupil and teacher, the girl believed herself to be in a relationship with Lamont and, when he mentioned his girlfriend, she became upset. 

When she told Lamont that that he was using her and that he had hurt her, he replied "Not f*cking this again", or words to that effect, and told her to stop being dramatic.

That same month, when the girl threatened to report him, he told her she would not be believed and said: "How would your mum feel if she found out about her perfect little princess?" 

The tribunal also heard that Lamont had provided his personal e-mail address to pupils in his 5th year class.

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The GTCS panel said his behaviour was at the "high end of misconduct" and said Lamont, who did not enter a defence at the hearing, showed no insight or willingness to remedy his behaviour.

It added "that there was a likelihood of reoccurance."

One witness, a former Faculty Head of English, Drama and Literature at the teacher's school, told the hearing Lamont started at the school as a probationer in August 2017 and was appointed as a fully qualified teacher in 2018.

The witness said that while "[Lamont] was confident and popular with pupils, he had occasion to address his teaching methods and an apparent arrogance."

A second witness told the hearing the girl had come forward because she "had felt used by the Teacher as a ’sex object’ and was concerned that he would act similarly with other pupils."

The report details that: "[The witness] stated that whilst he had thought the teacher to be ‘a cracking teacher’ prior to the events, he was in no doubt that Pupil A had told him the truth, and that the teacher’s behaviour ’sat very uncomfortably’ with him."

It adds: "He spoke to specific details of the messages sent by the Teacher to Pupil A which included advising her not to tell her mother about their relationship, explicitly detailing what he wanted to do to her and that over time the Teacher‘s tone had shifted to become of a more menacing nature, seeking to prevent and warn Pupil A from speaking to anyone with regard to their relationship. 

"He spoke to the Teacher having invited Pupil A to his home and providing her with his address. [The witness] spoke to Pupil A’s view that she was in a relationship with the Teacher, as her boyfriend."

A spokesperson for South Lanarkshire Council said: "The individual was removed from his position following an investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct towards a pupil and is no longer an employee of the council. 

"We note the findings of the GTCS."