Shamed RE teacher is spared jail

A SHAMED religious education teacher who had sex with a teenage pupil in a two-year affair, including on school trips where he was accompanied by his wife, has been spared jail and ordered to carry out 240 hours of community service.

Thomas Docherty, 51, targeted the schoolgirl when she was just 16, offering to help her after she found she had not done as well as she hoped in her exams.

He would take the girl, now a 21-year-old student, for trips to deserted spots at Gladhouse Reservoir, near Gorebridge. He also had sex with her at his home while his wife was out.

Passing sentence Sheriff Alistair Noble said: "You appear as someone who has committed offences of exceptional seriousness involving a gross breach of trust between yourself and a schoolgirl who you taught."

Sheriff Noble put Docherty on probation for three years and also placed him on the sex offenders' register for three years.

Docherty's wife, who is standing by him, was in court.