Drunk teacher said prom girls were 'gagging for it', panel hears Published duration 31 July 2019

image copyright Google image caption Lewis Morrison, 29, had worked at Albion Academy, Salford for nearly four years

A teacher got drunk at a school's end of year prom, told male pupils the girls were "gagging for it" and threatened to "knock out" the school principal, a panel heard.

Music and drama teacher Lewis Morrison, 29, had earlier handed in his notice at Albion Academy, Salford.

He had drunk "six or seven pints" and a video of him shouting and swearing was later shared on social media.

Mr Morrison, who had worked at the school since 2014, was asked to leave the Year 11 prom, held at Hotel Football, Old Trafford on 29 June 2018.

Witness A told the hearing Mr Morrison had been seen "sloshing around his pint and swaggering".

Witness B said pupils had commented that Mr Morrison was drunk, to which he responded that he did not care as he was "leaving in a couple of weeks".

'Put that on Snapchat'

He told the panel he heard him say: "Lads, you need to go where this lot are for the after party, they are gagging for it", referring to the female pupils.

In a written statement, Mr Morrison said: "I was not falling over, fighting or being sick... admittedly I had a few too many drinks."

He said this meant he had made "some bad decisions", however he denied encouraging sexual activity amongst students and claimed his comments had been "twisted and taken out of context."

image copyright David Dixon/Geograph

A video was shown to the panel showing Mr Morrison making a head-butt action and saying he would knock out the school principal, adding: "Put that on Snapchat".

Mr Morrison responded to this: "The violent content is an isolated incident amongst a range of silly jokes that I have taken too far."

The panel concluded that "Mr Morrison's actions were those of crass stupidity, which represented a considerable misjudgement as to what was an appropriate amount to drink, and language to use, at an end of year prom."