Kilmarnock teacher and pupil had weekly sex, hears panel

A SCHOOL teacher conducted a five-year affair with a teenage pupil, showering her with gifts and enjoying romantic weekends away, a hearing has heard.

A former pupil of music teacher David Cush said they engaged in “sexual acts” at school and at his flat, as often as three times a week.

The woman gave evidence that Mr Cush, who taught at St Joseph’s Academy, Kilmarnock, bought her a gold necklace for her 14th birthday.

The 46-year-old teacher from Kilmarnock, North Ayrshire, faces a total of nine charges brought by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).

The allegations involve sexual relationships with a total of three pupils over a period spanning 11 years between October 1995 to June 2006.

If the charges are proved, Mr Cush could be banned from the classroom.

A GTCS disciplinary hearing against Mr Cush, in Edinburgh this week, took evidence from a woman referred to as Pupil C.

She described secret meetings and romantic weekends away in York, claiming that the affair began in 1996 when she was 15 and ended in July 2001.

She said: “We would engage in sexual acts back stage at school or on my free periods and lunch breaks. I went to his flat regularly and we had sex for the first time in the summer of 1997.

“We had sex at least two or three times a week.”

Mr Cush was not present and not represented at the hearing, but has previously denied the charges against him. He had been investigated by the police but no charges were brought.

He was sacked from his position by East Ayrshire council.