St Albans PE teacher banned for ‘sex with pupil’ on night out

A PE teacher has been banned from the profession after a panel ruled he had sex with a sixth form pupil while on a drunken night out.

Jake Green, now 33, said he was “adamant” the person he met outside a nightclub was a former student and 18 or over at the time.

The student, known as Pupil A, said the incident happened in 2017 when Mr Green worked at Nicholas Breakspear Catholic School in St Albans, Hertfordshire.

A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel noted that Pupil A did not wish to press charges against Mr Green, but they found him guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.

Mr Green had worked at Nicholas Breakspear between September 2016 and August 2019 before moving to St Columba’s College in 2019, the panel heard.

The college received an anonymous email in May 2022 claiming that Mr Green had had a sexual encounter with a pupil from Nicholas Breakspear while teaching there.

He was suspended while an investigation was carried out.

In a statement to the college, included in the TRA ruling, Mr Green said: “All I remember is being in my friend’s car outside (a) nightclub.

“I remember feeling very intoxicated whilst he was chatting to two girls through the window, and I think he offered them a lift home.

“All I remember from then is us suddenly being in a small field or park with my friend and the two girls and somehow four of us engaged in a sexual encounter,” he continued.

He said due to his “drunken state”, he did not register who the two girls were – “only that I had a slight recognition of one of the girls”.

Mr Green continued: “When I woke up the following morning, it dawned on me why I may have recognised one of the girls.

“I assumed she may have been an ex-sixth-form student at Nicholas Breakspear School.

“I have no recollection of seeing her at school in my teaching role. I had never spoken to her or taught her.”

He said he did not notify the school as he had “no reason to believe she was a current student”.

The panel heard that in a police report from July 2022, Pupil A told an officer she had had sex with Mr Green while she was at the school.

The police decided that it was “more likely than not that Mr Green had sex with Pupil A when she was a pupil at the school”.

It accepted that Mr Green “may not have realised” she was a student where he worked, but that he “did have some recognition” of her.

The TRA banned Mr Green from teaching indefinitely, subject to a five-year review period.

It concluded that “Mr Green, while intoxicated, made a deliberate decision to engage in sexual intercourse with Pupil A”, but noted there was “no solid evidence to demonstrate he was aware she was a pupil at the school where he worked”.

In a written statement to the TRA, Mr Green said: “I am not the person I was in my early 20s.

“It was a shameful and embarrassing mistake that I hid from my friends, family and partner.

“As a result, I have focused on being the best person I can be in my career and in my relationships.”

He added: “I completely regret my past behaviour and I am immensely sorry.”