Teacher, 56, called pupil a ‘sex goddess’ in months-long barrage of social media messages
A teacher has been banned from the classroom for life after sending TikTok messages and emails to a student describing her dreams of “hugging without being naked” and describing her as a “sex goddess”.
Mark Rowley, now 56, had been working as a teacher at Hazel Wood High School since September 2013 and resigned from his position in June 2022 after his inappropriate relationship with the girl was revealed.
He exchanged text messages with the student between May 2022 and October 2022, describing her as “seductive,” describing their conversations as “juicy,” and asking her to send him a photo of herself in a towel.
After creating a TikTok account to stalk her, he asked her to go for a walk with her and told her about his “fantasies of kissing her all over her body, hugging her naked and having sex with her.”
She had also sent him a video of herself “licking her lips and pouting” to James’ song “Laid.”
She also told police that she was described as a “special person” and that “there will be beautiful eyes and delicious lips!” He also said he handed over a handwritten letter that included a reference to a drawing of his.
In August 2022, the student emailed Rowley saying: “I have blocked you so many times and you have created accounts to message me, to make demands of me, it is too much and I am starting to scare me (sic), I don’t need to explain why I blocked you and don’t talk to you, maybe because she is my teacher????.”
During a police interview in June 2022, Rowley admitted that he found Student A attractive and called her a “sex goddess”, but stated that it was a joke.
She later told the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA): “When he started flirting, I started flirting back.”
Rowley also admitted to police that he asked the student to destroy the handwritten letter and asked him to lie to police.
Following a professional conduct panel hearing in November, which Mr Rowley did not attend, the TRA concluded: “The panel considered that the evidence presented to them about the conduct as a whole was sexual in nature and that there was no reasonable alternative explanation.
“The panel also noted an increase over time in the sexual content of conversations between Mr Rowley and Student A. The panel considered that it could be inferred that Mr Rowley’s behavior was either seeking sexual gratification or seeking a future sexual relationship.”
The TRA also concluded that his behavior was not “out of character” and continued over an extended period of time and following his arrest.
The board also found that Rowley “showed no genuine remorse” and attempted to shift blame to Student A while failing to take full responsibility for his behavior.
He is now banned from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. Mr Rowley will also not be allowed to apply for restoration of his right to teach.
