London - An art tutor’s affair with her 17-year-old girl pupil was discovered after the teenager’s father spotted a lovebite on her neck.
Nia Davies began a sexual relationship with the ‘outgoing and bright’ A-level student, sharing a bed with her on trips to galleries and at her home, it was said.
She also exchanged ‘thousands’ of inappropriate messages with the girl during their ten-month relationship, the Education Workforce Council heard.
After a police investigation she was sacked and now faces eight counts of misconduct – including having sex with the teenager – at the hearing in Cardiff.
But the pupil, who is now 19, has denied an affair and says Davies, 31, was simply a ‘supportive lecturer’.
Her father said he became suspicious when his daughter brought Davies’s name up in several conversations. After spotting a lovebite on her neck, he confronted her about the relationship, he said.
‘She was adamant she wasn’t attracted to females at first,’ the officer told the hearing. ‘She said they weren’t in a relationship.
‘But then she admitted kissing her and said she’d stayed over at her house.’
He alerted police officers in West Wales who launched an investigation at Carmarthenshire College in Llanelli, where the lecturer worked. The pupil told officers she had spent weekends away with her teacher, and that they had shared hotel beds.
She denied having sex with Davies, but said they had kissed and would sleep together at Davies’s home. Davies was arrested and bailed, but never charged.
But her college launched its own investigation which led to Davies’s dismissal in August last year. The girl, identified only as ‘Learner A’, told the hearing that she had never been in a sexual relationship with Davies. She denied she had previously admitted to police, her father and mother that she had kissed her teacher, saying they must have been ‘confused’.
‘We sent texts but they were social texts,’ she said. ‘They were only in the tens, not the thousands.
‘I never admitted kissing Nia to my father, it’s completely untrue. That conversation never happened and I can’t explain it. We’ve had a conversation about my sexuality before, and I think there’s a lot of confusion to be honest. Nia was just a supportive lecturer.’
Asked if she could explain why a hotel manager had identified her as a girl who had stayed with Davies overnight, she replied: ‘It couldn’t have been me because I wasn’t there.’
The pupil also denied she was now living with Davies.
Case presenter Cadi Dewi asked the girl if she was lying to the panel in order to protect Ms Davies. She said: ‘I suggest were in a relationship with Davies and still are, and you’re not being honest with us to protect her.’
The girl replied: ‘I just admired her help. I’m not going to admit to things that aren’t true.’ George Pollitt, representing Davies, said the allegations were a ‘mess of confusion’ and she strenuously denied the affair.
He added: ‘These include allegations of a trip to see art museums. Any pupil would take heart from a teacher showing such interest in their education.’
Mr Pollitt said the teacher was not ‘sacked’ but instead specified that the college chose not to renew her fixed-term contract following its investigation.
Davies faces eight claims of misconduct. The Education Workforce Council regulates teachers in Wales and the hearing continues.
Daily Mail