Former science teacher Richard James Pugh, 41, has been fined for messaging one of his underage pupils on social media and supplying her with alcohol
A teacher who messaged one of his underage pupils on social media and supplied her with alcohol has been fined £500.
Richard James Pugh, 41, was head of science at Llangatwg Community School in Neath, South Wales, when he gave the girl – who cannot be identified – a Christmas card signed with a kiss from “your best buddy” and gifts, including a canned cocktail, Merthyr Magistrates Court heard. The child told the court that Pugh’s unwanted attention had left her feeling “vulnerable” and “exposed”.
The judge rebuked him for tainting the trust in his profession and trying to shift the blame onto the child. Giving evidence by video link, the girl told how Pugh – a teacher of 13 years – put a gift bag in her school bag at school, containing a can of Malibu and pineapple, biscuits and cold coffee, and gave her a signed Christmas card, Wales Online reports.
In evidence read out to the court on Wednesday, the child told police: “The first week we went back he gave me gifts after Christmas. A packet of digestive biscuits, two iced coffees and a can of Malibu because over Christmas he asked what I was doing and I said I had a Malibu with my parents.”
She said Pugh also gave her a Nando’s food voucher and a vape. The court heard she had found all the items together in a gift bag placed inside her school bag in early January this year. “It was a gift bag and all the gifts were in it,” she said.
Pugh, of Regent Street, Aberaman – who the court heard is now jobless and does not intend returning to teaching – had pleaded not guilty to supplying a minor with alcohol at an earlier hearing.
On Wednesday, he pleaded guilty to the charge but denied giving it to the child in a gift bag with other items. He claimed she had picked up these items herself from a stock of gifts left in a classroom after Christmas and that she had picked up the coffee in a classroom, where it had been used for a “caffeine experiment”.
The former teacher said he had told the pupil to help herself to unwanted gifts and items in the classroom which he said were due to be thrown away. He claimed he had not seen her take them but that she must have also put them in a gift bag herself. He claimed there had been a stack of various bags, including gift bags, in the science room.
Asked by prosecutor Jonathan Evans why he had changed pleas and the story he had told police differed to what he was telling the court, Pugh said: “I was arrested at 4am and questioned. It was a long time ago.”
He accused the child of “changing her story” and said “she has made things up as well”. Asked again about supplying her with alcohol Pugh replied: “I have not literally handed that to her”. He claimed: “The Malibu was purchased for my cleaner. The alcohol was never given to her. It was in the classroom.”
Pugh insisted that “nothing was given to her in a gift bag” and that she was “collecting stuff throughout the day….all types of gifts were there. When I get gifted alcohol it stays and is re-gifted. A few little cans came home with me.”
Challenged by the prosecutor, “you formed an inappropriate relationship with her didn’t you?” Pugh replied: “no.” But he agreed it was correct he had given her a Christmas card signed with a kiss.
Pugh’s defence counsel, Zoe Laugharne, said: “The defendant accepts giving alcohol to the complainant but does not accept giving alcohol in a gift bag accompanied by other items.”
In a victim impact statement, the child said Pugh’s attention had affected her education and left her feeling unsafe in school.
“When Mr Pugh started messaging (on instagram) I did not understand why someone I trusted would do that to me,” she said. “I was constantly looking over my shoulder as if there was no escape from his presence. I felt vulnerable and exposed and ashamed and a fear of being judged.”
She said thinking about it made her panic and that Pugh “refuses to take responsibility for what he did”.
District Judge Neil Thomas said: “There was nothing of any credibility in his (Pugh’s) evidence and he could not tell the truth even at this late stage. The maximum sentence I can give is a fine.”
Pugh was fined £500 plus a £200 court surcharge and £650 prosecution costs to be paid at £25 a month.
Separately, Judge Thomas also agreed to the complainant’s request for a restraining order against Pugh. Granting the order for 12 months, the judge told him he must not contact the child directly or indirectly and must not post anything about her on social media.
