A TEACHER of religious education with 30 years' service has quit the profession after being found guilty of allowing two pupils to watch gay porn videos which had come from his home.
John Stephen, 61, handed Rebecca Eadie a tape of what she thought was her school's Christmas concert. But when the 17-year-old watched it at home she was subjected to footage of two men having sex.
And when a 14-year-old boy pressed the play button of a video recorder at school to carry out some revision he also witnessed the sex acts.
Selkirk Sheriff Court heard that Stephen had just returned the machine to Earlston High School in the Borders after borrowing it for the holidays.
The teacher, from Galashiels, Selkirkshire, denied two charges of culpable and reckless behaviour but was convicted yesterday after a trial. Fining him pounds-300, Sheriff Kevin Drummond said: "After all those years it has come down to this.
It is a sad situation."
Stephen had been suspended after the charges surfaced in November 2004 and his lawyer told the court he was retiring from the teaching profession.
The court heard yesterday that Stephen was in charge of distributing the school concert videos for a pounds-2 fee, calling the enterprise "Earlston TV".
The trial was told he admitted to police that he subscribed to satellite porn channel Spice but said his lodger must have taped it without his knowledge.
The court heard that the girl pupil was "shocked and embarrassed" after watching the film at her home inMelrose in August last year.
Fiona MacDonald, prosecuting, said: "In his capacity as a school teacher he was recording material and handing it to school pupils to watch with their families."
She added: "He recorded the school concert and without ensuring there was nothing else on that tape he handed it over to the child in the knowledge his lodger was recording porn material."
The court was told that between September 27 and October 1 last year a 14-yearold boy had viewed images from a porn film at school.
Dominic Sellar, Stephen's lawyer, said the two events had been "unfortunate accidents".
In another case involving the same school yesterday, a fatherof-three who used a library computer to download more than 1000 images of child porn was jailed for two years.
Richard Wartnaby was caught when a pupil looked over his shoulder and raised concerns with staff about what he had seen. Selkirk Sheriff Court heard the images included bestiality and child abuse.
Miss MacDonald said Wartnaby had used the library at Earlston for more than a year. He will be placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for life.
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