UK Edition
Teacher 'invented a sick partner to get time off'
A teacher at a £12k-a-year school quit after suspicions were raised that he took a month off to "care for" a fake girlfriend.
In autumn 2015, Matthew Watts, who worked at Fosse Bank School in Sevenoaks, Kent, took three days off at short notice, and then took off the whole month from November 5 to December 5.
The independent primary school alleged he made up a seriously ill partner to take the leave - and Watts then refused to give any evidence she was real.
After the school launched an investigation into his absences, Watts resigned.
A National College for Teaching and Learning professional conduct panel has now ruled that he had breached standards.
However, despite stating that "the NCTL say that this girlfriend is a fabrication", it still ruled there was no sound evidence the woman, who he claimed died of the illness, was made up.
Watts took leave on September 17, 2015 claiming he was supporting his partner, only known as Person 1, at a police station.
But he later admitted that was a lie - and the panel heard he lied because he believed the head teacher was "going out of her way to make his working life as difficult and unhappy as possible".
Watts said the reason he was taking time off was actually because his partner was ill.
The panel said: "He says that when he was taking time off school he was doing so to look after his long-term girlfriend.
"He says that she was suffering from [redacted] difficulties and, in due course, died from [redacted]. The NCTL say that this girlfriend is a fabrication."
The panel said Watts, who did not attend the hearing, failed to provide enough information to prove the girlfriend was real once proceedings against him started.
The panel said: "It must have been clear to Mr Watts by that stage that he need only provide a minimal amount of information about his former partner to establish that he had been telling the truth about her all along.
"Mr Watts has consistently refused to provide that information to anybody, although he has replied promptly to other enquiries.
"Instead, he has repeatedly asserted that he must keep information about the identity of Person 1 private."
An intelligence analyst working to disprove Watts's claim told the hearing there was no evidence the woman existed.
But the panel ruled that there was still insufficient evidence to prove the woman did not exist. It therefore upheld only the allegations in respect of the 17 September absence, which Watts admitted he had lied about.
The panel ruled that Watts' behaviour did not warrant him being struck off as a teacher.
But it added: "The panel considers that the finding of misconduct in and of itself is sufficient to mark the misconduct and to highlight that it is not acceptable for teachers to take an unannounced leave of absence and subsequently mislead their employers as to the reasons for it."
CORRECTION: Contrary to what could have been suggested by an earlier version of this article, Matthew Watts was found guilty of misconduct on the basis of his admission that he lied about his reasons for taking leave on a single day, not a month. The article has been amended accordingly.