UK male teacher awarded £45,000 after female students falsely accuse him of sexual assault 'for fun'

A math teacher in the U.K. has reportedly been awarded almost $55,000 (£45,000) after the school got rid of him after he was accused of sexual assault by female students. The students allegedly admitted later on that they accused the teacher "for fun."

Jonathan Hawker taught math and computing at Devonport High School for Girls in Plymouth before being accused by students of inappropriately touching their thighs and rubbing their shoulders, according to the Telegraph.

Hawker was quickly suspended from his teaching post after the accusations were made, eventually being arrested and fired for "gross misconduct." The report noted that his appeal in the case was rejected, despite the authorities dropping charges in the case.

It was later revealed that older girls at the school said the accusers told them they made up the story "because it was fun." As a consequence, Hawker was awarded almost $55,000 after the tribunal found that the school had carried out a "wholly inadequate" investigation and failed to form a safe environment for its staff.

The Daily Mail reported that Judge Martha Street ripped into the school's investigation, saying: "A fair investigation would at the least have included a transcript of the interviews with them."

"I make no finding on whether Mr. Hawker committed the misconduct alleged."

"What I can say is that if he is innocent, and a playground plot can end a career and destroy a reputation, the school is not providing a safe working environment for its staff, in particular for its male staff."

"No reasonable employer would conclude that the younger girls were giving truthful evidence in good faith without question; that is, without exploring the contrary evidence including the contemporary evidence from the older girls of a plot against Mr. Hawker."

"In a career-ending case, the investigation has to be as full as possible."

"This fell well short of that. The school accepted the evidence of the younger pupils without challenge or exploration and discounted, ignored or avoided finding contrary evidence."

The tribunal was held remotely in Bristol in June 2021, when the authorities learned that a student at the school wrote a letter to her tutor that another girl — identified only as Student H — suggested Hawker had touched her leg.

There were at least three other female students who claimed Hawker had made them feel "very uncomfortable," with one suggesting Hawker had massaged her shoulders and stroked her arms.

The tribunal ultimately decided that the school had refused to hear the older students' claims that the girls who accused Hawker had said they did it just for fun. In March 2022, it was decided that the charges would not proceed, given that some of the accusers retracted their accusations.

It is unclear whether Hawker was reinstated at the school, but the temporary ban keeping him from teaching was eventually lifted.

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