A teacher from Hove has appealed against a conviction for harassing his old head by putting up wanting posters accusing her of perjury.
Brian Tomlins, 60, of Hogarth Road, Hove, put up the posters in the area around West Hove Junior School – now Hove Junior School – in June.
He also accused his old boss Janis Taylor, who sacked him, of covering up a sexual assault.
She denied the claims and Tomlins was convicted of harassment last month and fined £300 at Brighton Magistrates’ Court. His appeal is expected to be in the crown court.
He said that he had complained to the police about Mrs Taylor committing perjury when she gave evidence at his Employment Tribunal. But, he said, Sussex Police had refused even to investigate.
Instead he was arrested – twice – and ended up with a conviction for harassment.
He is appealing because he does not believe that the court properly considered his defence.
His defence was that his actions were reasonable because every attempt to raise matters through more appropriate channels had been rebuffed. He also said that he had been trying to expose a crime – perjury.
No date has yet been set for the appeal.
He is also pursuing a claim in the county court against Brighton and Hove City Council over a misleading reference. As a result of the reference he had been unable to find work since his dismissal.
he taught my daughter – was a very nice man – appeared very erudite
Mr Tompkins taught my son, he was brilliant. I seem to remember he was not the only casualty of Janice Taylor’s regime, which started soon after she arrived at West Hove School. Very sad about loss of good teachers & honest professionals from West Hove School. Any suspected misconduct by heads should always be investigated properly, and in this case particularly.
My daughter was a pupil at the school and said he was a nice man. I can understand his frustration, he went through all the proper channels but was driven to do something stupid out of sheer frustration. From experience i know the reluctance of the police to prosecute or even investigate perjury even when it involved a forged witness statement written in someones name without their knowledge. Because we won the case it seemed it no longer mattered. In relation to the same case I also experienced the council’s dishonesty in protecting the criminal from the financial penalties imposed by the courts as he is a business tenant of theirs who provides them with revenue which they don’t want to lose. There is a lot of negligence, corruption and collusion and cover ups that goes on with the authorities. Just because this teacher lost his court case against the council it doesn’t mean he was in the wrong.