A French teacher has been accused of sleeping with one of her sixth-form pupils in a hotel room on prom night.
Isabelle Graham, 28, allegedly slept with the 17-year-old boy at a city centre Travelodge in Edinburgh.
She now faces being thrown out of the profession after a hearing was shown a photo of her in bed, with the pupil near the door.
But Mrs Graham, who was engaged at the time of the offence and has since married, denied the charges and claimed to have no recollection of the event, having drunk four glasses of wine earlier in the evening in June 2014.
She said in a statement that she had been the ‘victim’ and was an ‘active and practising Christian’ who was ‘waiting until marriage’ before having sex.
Her husband, Andrew Wilkie, has stood by her and defended her character in a statement which said he had ‘no doubt’ that the allegations are false.
The General Teaching Council for Scotland has accused Mrs Graham, a former teacher at Whitburn Academy, West Lothian, of going to the Travelodge with the boy – identified as Pupil A – after leaving the upmarket hotel where the prom had been taking place.
She is alleged to have spent three hours alone with him, drinking and sharing a bed. They were said to have ‘repeatedly engaged in sexual activity’. The investigation began after teaching staff at the academy were made aware of ‘a photo that had been uploaded on social media’.
The disciplinary panel at the GTCS heard from Fraser Thomson, investigating the case, who claimed that the photograph showed Mrs Graham had been in the pupil’s bed while he was also in the room.
Mr Thomson said: ‘The pupil standing in the door is Pupil A. You can see there what appears to be a lady in the bed there. The colour of the picture showed the lady with long blonde hair.’ The photo was taken by another pupil who was meant to be sharing the room with Pupil A but returned numerous times and allegedly found the teacher in the room.
According to Mr Thomson, evidence from pupils showed that they saw ‘Pupil A and Mrs Graham lying on the bed, one on top of the covers and one underneath the covers’.
Mrs Graham said in an interview that ‘she was unable to recall events after 10.30pm’ because she had drunk four glasses of wine. She claimed that her first recollection after 10.30pm was ‘when she woke up in her flat at about 5am’.
She also admitted that four glasses of wine would not normally intoxicate her to that level, and said of the hair in the photograph: ‘It looks like my hair.’
But she denied recognising the young man in the photograph. The allegations prompted a police investigation at the time of the alleged incident, but no charges were brought against Mrs Graham.
Detective Superintendent Keith Mailer, who investigated the incident for Police Scotland, said that Mrs Graham ‘was concerned that her drink had been spiked’ but that there was no evidence of this when she was tested at a hospital.
Mr Miller said: ‘Throughout the [CCTV] footage there’s no sign that Mrs Graham is under the excessive influence of drugs or alcohol.’
Footage also showed the teacher and pupil kissing, he said, adding: ‘The way she moved and conducted herself suggested someone who was making conscious decisions.’
Police Scotland raised charges against Mrs Graham, but the Procurator Fiscal did not pursue them, citing a lack of evidence.
Mrs Graham, who now lives abroad, had provided a statement to be read in her defence at the hearing. In it, she claimed that she had been the ‘victim’ on the night, reiterating that she had no recollection of the events. She said that if the photo taken on the night did feature her, she was clearly unconscious and therefore it was ‘posed’ without her consent. Mrs Graham said in a statement: ‘The person in the bed in the photo is clearly not in control of the situation.’
Her husband Mr Wilkie, who is training to join the clergy, said in a statement: ‘In all the time I have known her, Mrs Graham has always put her Christian faith above all other things. I have never had any doubt that the allegations made against Mrs Graham were false.’
Mrs Graham resigned from her position at Whitburn Academy after the alleged incident.
A spokesman for West Lothian Council said: ‘Mrs Graham is no longer employed by West Lothian Council and it would not be appropriate to comment further.’
The hearing continues.
Daily Mail