Teaching assistant banned after he told pupils he was a former military sniper and killed people
A Welsh rugby player and teaching assistant has been banned from class for lying to students about being a military sniper who had previously killed people.
Scott Trigg-Turner, who is also Wales’ leading wheelchair rugby player, made false allegations to students and colleagues while working at Bassaleg School in Newport, Wales, in November 2023.
These also included telling Year 8 students that he was in the US Marine Corps, still had a gun and had the codename ‘kill switch’.
A professional standards panel on Tuesday found that Mr Trigg-Turner “told students and colleagues that he had been in the army and the military, that he was in the US marines, that he still had a gun from active service, that he was a sniper, that he had killed people, and that he had the nickname/codename ‘kill switch’.”
It added that Mr Trigg-Turner was “fully aware” that his comments to “vulnerable and impressionable” students were “incorrect and misleading”.
The panel also found that Mr Trigg-Turner, a wheelchair user, had made “inconsistent” explanations to colleagues and managers about how he was injured and came to use a wheelchair, saying it had happened to him while he was in the army or Navy.
The hearing was told that Mr Trigg-Turner felt he had been “misinterpreted” and “targeted and ostracized for whatever reason”.
He resigned in June 2024 following an internal investigation.
Mr Trigg-Turner has been removed from the Education Workforce Council (EWC) register “indefinitely” but can apply to have his name restored within two years.
The panel concluded: “The finding of unacceptable professional conduct is a serious matter. In the light of the findings that Mr Trigg-Turner was dishonest and lacking in integrity as set out above, the Committee is satisfied that his unacceptable professional conduct was so serious that the circumstances did not justify closing the case without making an order or that it would not be in the public interest to do so given the failings identified.”
Mr Trigg-Turner can appeal the decision within 28 days.
