Sexual assault teacher is suspended

A TEACHER who performed a sex act on a teenage pupil has been suspended by the profession's governing body.

Andrew Beattie, 61, was also found guilty of making sexual remarks to another male pupil and of downloading indecent images of children following an appearance at Duns Sheriff Court earlier this year.

Beattie, who had taught at Selkirk High School for more than 30 years, will now face a full General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) disciplinary hearing and is expected to be struck off. The disgraced biology teacher, from Hawick, was caught by police after his credit card details were used to download sick images of children being abused.

Following a raid on his Borders home last year by the National Child Protection Centre more than 1,300 horrific images were discovered on Beattie's computer.

When his arrest became public, two youngsters contacted police claiming he had indecently assaulted them while they were at the Borders school during the 1990s. Beattie, 61, pled guilty to indecently assaulting a 14-year-old boy between April and August 1991, and further admitted to carrying out a sex act on a 15-year-old boy between April 1995 and March 1996 at a court appearance in March.

Beattie, who has been placed on the Sex Offenders' Register, failed to appear before a GTCS investigating committee in Edinburgh yesterday, but accepted the temporary suspension order against him by letter.

Jennifer McDonald, for the GTCS, said the charges may lead to Beattie being removed from the teaching register.