Prince Harry art teacher demanded more money for 'cover-up'

• Harry's ex-teacher wants more cash for cover-up

• Sarah Forsyth regards pay-off as 'insulting'

• But denies she spilt the beans 'for the money'

Key quote

"Mentioning exams and Harry to the headmaster is like putting a gun to the headmaster’s head. He either has to deal with it or, as he has dealt with it in my case, decided that I am making it up." - Sarah Forsyth

Story in full

A TEACHER at Eton College who claimed she helped Prince Harry cheat in his exams yesterday said she wanted more money from the school to "cover-up" the scandal after being given an "insulting" 10,000.

Sarah Forsyth received the payment after she was sacked from the college for her allegedly poor performance.

But in a letter, she later told the headmaster, Tony Little, her sensational claims about Prince Harry, and demanded a higher payment from the school.

At the tribunal in Reading, Berkshire, Ms Forsyth was asked by Nigel Giffin, QC, representing the school, if she had wanted more money. The teacher replied: "Yes. If they were going to offer money to cover up what had happened, the amount they offered did not indicate that they were sorry.

"I was very displeased with the underhandedness and I thought the 10,000 was insulting."

However, the 30-year-old denied that she had revealed the allegations purely for money. She said she had wanted to keep her job and also exposed the fact that Ian Burk, the school’s head of art, was helping pupils cheat in exams.

"I talked about Harry’s exam cheating as I thought it might, in the end, open the headmaster’s eyes," she said. "I wanted the head to know who he was dealing with as his head of department.

"This whole situation would never have happened, with the press and the tribunal, had the headmaster dealt with Mr Burke at an early stage.

"Mentioning exams and Harry to the headmaster is like putting a gun to the headmaster’s head. He either has to deal with it or, as he has dealt with it in my case, decided that I am making it up."

In the letter Ms Forsyth sent to Mr Little, she said that she had helped Prince Harry cheat in his exams, and added that the goodwill payment she had received was "derisory" and she demanded "more realistic" compensation.

Ms Forsyth said she had not gone to the headmaster with the allegations while she was employed at the school because a union representative had advised her not too and she felt it would put her in a bad light. "If I was in charge of a very important public school with a very public image and someone came and said Harry had cheated in his exam it would put me in a very difficult position," she said.

The tribunal was then played a conversation between Ms Forsyth and Mr Burke which she had secretly recorded to expose his "bullying nature".

On the tape, Mr Burke could be heard saying:

"I told you the gloves are off now," adding:

"I don’t care about you as an individual. I care about the people you are teaching."

Ms Forsyth later denied she had tried to blackmail Eton for money over the Prince Harry scandal. She said she had only told the headmaster about the alleged incident because she was upset at her treatment before she was sacked.

The tribunal was also told that several teachers at Eton had remarked on Ms Forsyth’s unusual teaching methods.

Reverend John Puddefoot, the deputy headmaster, said he had once seen the teacher asking pupils to copy pictures of a very "dark nature" including "violence, child abuse, torture and individuals with disabilities".

Ms Forsyth, of Pymers Mead, London, is claiming sexual discrimination and unfair dismissal against Eton College.

The tribunal continues.