A primary school teacher who tried to force himself on a female colleague when she refused to have sex with him has been banned from teaching for life.
Andrew Beesley, of Westhoughton, near Bolton, was jailed for a year after he was convicted on three charges of sexual assault without penetration.
A court heard he hoisted the woman on to his shoulders in a fireman’s lift before he cornered her and tried to kiss her.
He dropped his trousers and underwear, exposing himself and pushing the woman’s head towards his groin.
The incident took place when the victim went into the school during a break to prepare for the new school term. After seeing she was there on Facebook, Beesley decided to go in too
She fought back and tried to escape to a classroom at the Crosslee Primary School in Manchester in April 2018.
Beesley, now 41, had taught there for nearly 16 years.
He had previously been reported to senior staff about his sexual conduct by the woman, and had already been warned after he ‘jokingly’ spanked her on the bottom, Manchester Crown Court was told.
Andrew Beesley, 41, has been struck off after he was jailed for sexually assaulting a colleague
A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) disciplinary panel heard that Beesley had been a teacher at the school since 2003 until April 2018 when he was arrested for the sexual assault.
He was dismissed in late 2019 after he was jailed for the offences by a judge at Manchester Crown Court.
Beesley told police that his colleague had lied and made up the allegations against him.
The court was told that Beesley suggested they could have sex in the headteacher’s office.
When the victim said ‘no’, he walked in front of her and picked her up and placed her over his shoulder.
Prosecutor Vanessa Thompson told the court in 2019: ‘She felt extremely uncomfortable because of this behaviour and she repeatedly told him to put her down but he ignored her.
‘She wasn’t laughing or going along with this. She in fact kicked out at a trolley nearby in an effort to stop the defendant and banged her leg. He then rubbed her leg and continued to carry her down the corridor.
‘He cornered her against a wall and tried to kiss her on the lips. She moved her face out of the way and pushed him away and went to her classroom.
‘He followed her into her classroom but he was by now standing behind her and he began to approach her from her rear right.
‘She heard something unbuckling and she saw that he had pulled his trousers and his underwear down enough to expose his penis that he was holding in his hand.’
Beesley, of Westhoughton, near Bolton, denied wrongdoing but was convicted of sexual assault following a trial and jailed for a year
Mrs Thompson said that Beesley then put his hand on top of the woman’s head and ‘pushed the left side towards him’, and she tried to pull away but his penis ‘made contact with her right cheek’.
A few minutes later another member of staff came into the room. The victim explained what had happened, and she was told to let the headteacher know.
Following the April incident Beesley was suspended and banned from returning to the school, but was allowed to remain on the register as a member of staff.
The court was told that the woman realised Beesley had relatives who worked at the school – including his mother-in-law and his partner who was a teaching assistant.
‘She felt very uncomfortable as soon as these matters arose and confused about what to do next knowing that a complaint would upset the apple cart in the school,’ Mrs Thompson said.
‘She left the school and disclosed to her mother what had happened, and after an overnight thought process took the view that the best way forward was to contact the police.’
In a statement, the victim said the incident left her with ‘severe anxiety’, her self-confidence was ‘shattered’ and as a result of making a complaint against Beesley she was left ‘isolated, intimidated and ignored by staff’ and supporters of the teacher.
She said that the incident could have been prevented if the school had dealt with him previously when ‘myself and other female staff members had made complaints’.
‘Every day I thought about what he had done to me, the fact he doesn’t believe he had done anything wrong has made me ill,’ she said.
‘My mum had to give evidence while she was recovering from cancer. No matter what happens to him there will be people who will not accept he was guilty and blame me.’
The TRA panel chair Valerie Purnell-Simpson said they were ‘in no doubt that Mr Beesley’s misconduct was of the most serious kind and wholly incompatible with being a teacher’.
Beesley was jailed and given a lifetime restraining order from contacting the victim and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life.
Sentencing in 2019, Judge Anthony Cross QC told Beesley he was ‘clearly trying to gain some sexual gratification’ when he decided to ‘try it on’ with the woman, and when she ‘took refuge’ in her own classroom she hoped she would be safe.
‘She was scared and her fears were entirely justified,’ the judge said. ‘You left and a complaint was made – it was made within minutes of the incident occurring.
‘She must have been terrified about making the complaint, worried that nobody would believe her that they would rush to judgment which in fact many in that school did.
‘But she plucked up the courage and made a complaint to her mother and to the police.
‘I should make it perfectly plain that I’m satisfied she was subjected to appalling treatment by a member of staff at the school at which she was employed. She was isolated and intimidated by staff who supported you.
‘She reported you twice and nothing was done. I’m absolutely satisfied that your victim has suffered severe psychological harm.
‘You chose to carry on when it should have been obvious to you that your victim wanted nothing to do with you at all.’
DailyMail
