A Fife teacher accused of having sex with a pupil kept gifts and notes from her in his classroom cupboard.
Shocked Levenmouth Academy headteacher Ronnie Ross – who later told of the teacher’s reaction – found a teddy and other trinkets given to chemistry teacher Dr David Bryant by the girl.
A card also discovered in the cupboard was signed “love and kisses”.
The discovery was made after Mr Ross suspended Bryant on full pay and escorted him from the premises.
Bryant no longer works at Levenmouth Academy and is not employed by Fife Council.
He is accused of buying a burner phone to arrange sexual liaisons with a pupil, using the code name Delilah – based on the hit 2006 song by Plain White T’s about a long-distance relationship.
The affair is said to have started in 2017 when Bryant told the then 17-year-old he wanted to kiss her.
It’s alleged they soon began meeting regularly for sex, including in the school’s biology lab, until the 18-month relationship ended in 2019 and the girl reported the affair to a teacher.
Mr Ross told a hearing of the General Teaching Council (GTC) for Scotland on Tuesday he realised the claims were “potentially very serious” as soon as he heard them.
“Any allegation of that nature is an abuse of trust and position where somebody has influence over a younger person who is impressionable,” he said.
Bryant ‘did not deny the allegations’
Ronnie Ross, who left Levenmouth Academy last year to work on secondment with Fife Council, said Bryant took the news of the claims very calmly.
“It was as if he was expecting something to happen,” he said.
“He didn’t seem surprised or shocked when we told him what the allegations were.
“I was thinking, ‘my goodness, he’s taking this very calmly’.
“If it had been me, I think I would have been a wreck.”
The hearing into Bryant’s conduct heard Mr Ross informed the teacher he was suspending him on full pay while the claims were investigated.
He added: “He didn’t deny or contradict anything.”
Mr Ross said Dr Bryant’s only comment was that everyone knew he and the girl spent a lot of time together in his classroom.
Levenmouth pupil confided in a teacher
Mr Ross described Bryant as a very calm, considerate man.
“He was always helpful and affable. He was always pleasant, respectful and thoughtful to staff and pupils,” he said.
And he said Pupil A was “a well mannered, polite and easy going girl”.
“There had never been any complaints from any staff about her at any time,” he added.
Mr Ross said the first he heard of the allegations were after Pupil A confided in chemistry teacher Kerryanne McMahon once the relationship finished.
By that point the girl had left school and was attending college.
Text messages and photos were ‘clear evidence’ of relationship
Ms McMahon advised that the girl had told her she had had “an inappropriate relationship with David Bryant”.
“She said she had clear evidence that some sort of relationship was going on,” Mr Ross said.
“Pupil A showed her some text messages and photos in different locations.”
One of the photos showed Bryant and the pupil in a park in Dunfermline together.
“My feeling was they shouldn’t have been in a park out of school hours at all in that situation,” Mr Ross said.
“That’s putting yourself in a very risky, tricky situation.”
Pair had sex in a car, hotel and school biology lab
Pupil A told the hearing on Monday that she did not have sexual intercourse with Bryant until she was 18.
However, she said the pair regularly kissed, touched and engaged in oral sex before then.
At first the activity took place in a car at various secluded locations, she claimed.
And she said they later had sex at a Travelodge in Glenrothes, Halbeath park and ride and the Levenmouth Academy biology lab.
The girl claimed their relationship ended when she asked him to choose between her and his wife, with the teacher picking his wife.
Bryant has previously indicated he wished to be removed from the teaching register and is not attending the hearing.
Full list of allegations against David Bryant
The allegations against Dr Iain Bryant, known as David, are as follows.
Between October 2017 and June 2019 at Levenmouth Academy it is alleged Dr Bryant entered into a relationship with Pupil A, then a pupil at the school, and did:
- Take Pupil A away from a window and hug her as she was feeling upset
- Say he was thinking about kissing Pupil A the following day
- Kiss Pupil A – who at the time was still at school and under the age of 18
Kiss and touch Pupil A in the technician’s lab - Give Pupil A a mobile phone, a few months later, and contact her using a code word “Delilah”
- Meet with Pupil A in a Travelodge and/or other property and engage in sexual activity once she was over 18.
The fitness to teach conduct hearing is due to last all this week.
If any allegations are found to be proven, it will then be up to the GTC whether to impose any sanctions – which could include being banned from the profession.
