Ban for drunken Thornbury teacher who texted mum threatening to kill her son

A teacher who turned up drunk to work and texted a mum threatening to kill her boy at a boarding school for pupils with special educational needs has been banned from the profession.

Terence McHenry also sent aggressive messages to the headteacher of Sheiling School in Thornbury, where he worked, and hid previous medical history, including alcohol problems, in his job application because he had received 30 rejections, a misconduct panel heard.

The texts made the head of the independent school feel “threatened and uneasy due to the unpredictable behaviour of Mr McHenry which over time had become increasingly hostile”.

A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel barred him from the profession indefinitely with a minimum five-year review period after finding his conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring teaching into disrepute. 

Mr McHenry, 53, who did not attend the two-day hearing earlier this month and was not represented, attended work while unfit and/or under the influence of alcohol on August 30, 2019, and also previously on February 11, 2015, while a teacher at King’s College, Taunton.

He failed to disclose relevant issues on pre-employment medical questionnaires to both schools, which amounted to dishonesty and a lack of integrity, the panel ruled.

Its report said Mr McHenry, a class teacher at Sheiling School from November 2018, having started as an assistant teacher in September, was seen by another staff member slipping over while drunk in Tesco in July 2019, causing a cut to his hand which required a hospital visit.

He made an allegation against the colleague but was allegedly under the influence at a meeting to discuss it and was “advised that he needed to sober up in order to give a reliable witness statement”, but he later withdrew it, the report said.

Meanwhile, the school’s maintenance team was concerned that the fire alarm kept getting set off and suspected it was caused by Mr McHenry’s activity in the flat where he lived on-site, and unsuccessfully tried for a week to gain his permission to enter the property.

“Mr McHenry’s text messages to the maintenance team and the head teacher started to sound threatening,” the panel’s report said.

It said he was given notice to vacate the flat and was offered support from the school but turned it down.

He was allegedly drunk at work during staff prep week the following month and was suspended on full pay, handing in his work mobile phone, the report said.

Inappropriate texts were found including one sent to a pupil’s mother during the summer break, referring to her son, that said: “tell him I will kill him.”

Another, to the headteacher, said: “If anyone tried to get into my home, it is a declaration of war. And you don’t threaten the McHenry family.”

A second text to the head a week later said: “But I am becoming angry with his attitude. You won’t like me when I am angry,” and, “But do not bull***t me.”

Mr McHenry was sacked for gross misconduct in September 2019.

The report said: “During Mr McHenry’s disciplinary meeting, he admitted that he was under the influence of alcohol whilst on site whilst working and he stated that he had lied on his application form.”

It said he accepted drinking heavily at night and would still be under the influence of alcohol the next morning at work, although there were no pupils present on that occasion.

However, at private school King’s College during an evening in February 2015, he was drunk and acted “inappropriately and aggressively” to students through “strange, worrying and intimidating behaviour”, the panel heard.

“The students reported Mr McHenry smelling of alcohol, walking uneasily and seeming to lose coordination at times.

“It was alleged by the students that Mr McHenry had made inappropriate comments including ‘alright p****s’ when greeting them and ‘this is a f*****g tune’ when the students were listening to music.

“The students also reported that Mr McHenry had said ‘don’t get me wrong I hate you but if you wanted me to be your tutor I would back you’ and ‘didn’t think I would miss you because you have a really punchable face’.”

He was suspended and later dismissed for gross misconduct.

In a letter to the TRA, the teacher said he was told of a situation regarding his children in July 2019 which caused him “deep distress”, and that he no longer drinks.

A spokesperson for Sheiling School Thornbury said: “We welcome the decision of the Teaching Regulation Agency on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education.

“This is an incredibly serious matter involving a former member of staff who lived on site and worked for Sheiling School for a number of months.

“During the summer holiday period of 2019 we became aware of an incident and subsequent unacceptable behaviour that fell significantly short of the high standards we expect from all our staff.

“We took immediate and decisive action resulting in the dismissal of the individual involved.

“This professional conduct investigation found that the individual provided false and misleading information in order to secure their role at Sheiling School as well as another school where the individual had been employed previously and had demonstrated unacceptable professional conduct.

“We continue to uphold incredibly high standards of scrutiny and a code of conduct for our staff and are very proud of the excellent team here at Sheiling School.”