Neelam Gomersall acts for deputy headteacher acquitted of assaulting a 10-year-old student

Mr H, the deputy headteacher of a school for children with autism and special educational needs, was accused of lifting a student into the air before throwing him to the ground. The incident was witnessed by another teacher and captured partly on CCTV.

Mr H asserted that he pushed the student once in self-defence when the student was in an “emotionally dysregulated” and unpredictable state.

A conviction would have had career-ending consequences for Mr H who otherwise had an unblemished career of over 25 years.

He was acquitted following a successful submission of no case to answer at the close of the Crown’s case.

Neelam was instructed by Jonathan Perkins of Hunt & Coombs.