A teacher has been cleared of engaging in sexual activity with three pupils at a Fife school.
Jurors found Dean Bromage not guilty of all charges following a three-day trial at Kirkcaldy Sheriff court.
The 33-year-old was visibly relieved and emotional after being told he was free to leave the dock.
Outside the court he embraced his father, who had attended to support his son.
He said he was “very relieved” to be acquitted of the charges.
“I want to get on with my life,” he said. “It’s a big, wide world out there.”
He added that the case had been hanging over him for more than two years due to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
‘Tell me more’
In asking the jury of ten men and five women to find his client not guilty, solicitor Gordon Martin made reference to the popular 70’s musical Grease.
He said it was for the jury to decide whether Bromage had been talking about the girl’s sex life in a “tell me more, tell me more” manner or “in the context of a loving relationship.
Mr Martin said a former colleague of Bromage’s, who had given evidence in the case, had clearly stated she would have reported him if she had felt he was a predator.
He said: “She wasn’t concerned by his behaviour as such, but she was concerned about how others might see it.
“What you might perceive is that the music department at (the school) was a bit different than it would have been when you were at high school.”
He said that the colleague had admitted that staff sometimes hugged pupils, and that she herself had done so.
But of the three former pupils he said: “Their perception was such that they didn’t complain to anyone. They continued to hang about the music department.”
He added that one of the girls had admitted that she had instigated a hug with Bromage.
Mr Martin stated that while Bromage’s behaviour was that of a “maverick” teacher, it was not criminal.
Bromage, of Fotheringham Drive, Monifieth, had maintained his innocence throughout the trial.
He was accused of engaging in sexual activity with three pupils at the school over a three year period.
