Disgraced former Levenmouth Academy teacher David Bryant, who has been struck off, did not attend this week’s hearing into his conduct.
But over the course of four days, the reputation of the man described by his old boss as “respectful and thoughtful to staff and pupils” was ripped apart.
The General Teaching Council (GTC) Scotland sessions were told of the 55-year-old’s sexual liaisons with a schoolgirl, known as Pupil A, who was 16 when he first taught her.
One is said to have taken place in the Fife school’s biology lab, as well as in a car and at a Glenrothes Travelodge.
The hook-ups also took place at Halbeath Park and Ride, Markinch’s Balbirnie Park and a car park near East Fife’s Bayview football stadium.
In Bryant’s classroom, presents and postcards they had exchanged were discovered.
Secret meetings were arranged via texts using the code name Delilah – based on the hit 2006 song by Plain White T’s about a long-distance relationship.
‘Distinctive in his style’
The sordid revelations about the chemistry teacher paint a very different picture to the one portrayed by him and wife Beverley in a newspaper article in October last year.
Readers learned the couple – now working as celebrants – were going head to head for a prestigious prize at the Scottish Funeral Awards.
Both, we were told, came from “an education background” and decided to give up their jobs in the sector to pursue new careers following the Covid pandemic.
Beverley said: “We are now very much full-time and busy. We are very much looking forwards with weddings and funerals.
“We help each other along and are a sounding board for each other but we both definitely have our own styles.
“David wears a kilt for both weddings and funerals. He is very distinctive in his style.”
Unsurprisingly, there was no mention of Bryant’s sexual and emotional affair with a pupil, events that occurred between October 2017 and June 2019.
Four months before the interview he’d asked – via an email from his union representative – to be removed from the teaching register.
‘He’s taking this very calmly’
On Tuesday, former Levenmouth Academy headteacher Ronnie Ross lifted the lid on the moment Bryant was confronted with the allegations.
Mr Ross – who suspended him on full pay and escorted him from the premises – said: “He didn’t seem surprised or shocked when we told him what the allegations were.
“I was thinking, ‘my goodness, he’s taking this very calmly’. If it had been me, I think I would have been a wreck.”
Bryant’s celebrant page on Facebook is awash with positivity and pictures of him alongside couples on their big day. There are glowing reviews too.
In November, one bride wrote: “We couldn’t have picked a better celebrant if we tried.
“David was fantastic…he captured our story perfectly.”
Two months earlier, another said: “We couldn’t have chosen a better celebrant to marry myself and my husband. David was amazing…he made all our guests feel welcome and had a great laugh.”
Pupil A gives evidence
While Bryant appears to have moved on from the events that put him under the microscope at a fitness-to-teach conduct hearing, Pupil A was “visibly in distress and upset”, according to GTC solicitor Lauren Doherty, as she relived what happened.
The girl told the hearing she did not have sexual intercourse with Bryant until she was 18.
However, she said they regularly kissed, touched and engaged in oral sex before then, with the pair meeting once or twice a week in secluded areas.
Giving evidence under oath, Pupil A revealed she went to Bryant’s classroom to work almost every lunchtime.
She found him easy to talk to and began confiding in him, saying: “I was about 16 when I first had him as a teacher.
“About seven months to a year afterwards, about November 2017, he made a comment about wanting to kiss me.
“I told him to go for it and he did. It sort of went from there.”
They “pretty much kissed every day” in a science room, with Bryant picking her up in his car after school.
She said the relationship became more sexual and added: “There was a lot more touching, a lot more oral sex, foreplay, leading up to when we actually slept together.
“I had never had a relationship like that before. It was all very new to me.”
David Bryant allegations emerge
The girl says it lasted almost two years until she asked him to choose between her and his wife, with Bryant picking his wife.
Pupil A, who has since left school, told the panel: “I reported it as it felt unfair.
“I had nothing and he kept his job and his wife.”
Levenmouth Academy chemistry teacher Kerryanne McMahon was told about the affair and she reported it to then headteacher Ronnie Ross, who called a child protection officer.
Ms McMahon said: “I was shocked at what she said and kept asking her to recant it but she was so specific. To be honest, I didn’t want to believe it.”
There was no apology or admission of wrongdoing when The Courier approached the disgraced teacher – whose full name is Dr Iain David Bryant – at his home this week.
But there was a sense of resignation in his voice when he declined to respond to the claims made at the GTC hearing about his conduct at the Buckhaven high school.
A mum whose child attends Levenmouth Academy told us: “The school appear to have handled the situation as well as it could have.
“But the fact this went on for so long without anyone noticing is terrifying.”
‘Teacher abused position of trust’
The extent of Police Scotland’s involvement was initially unclear.
On the first day of the hearing, Ms McMahon said she had been called out of class to speak to officers 24 hours after being made aware of the affair.
Speaking on day three, a friend of Pupil A claimed Bryant and the girl remained in touch until “police took her phone away”.
But on Tuesday May 9, The Courier revealed Bryant was arrested and charged four months after the allegations emerged in June 2019.
However, the procurator fiscal decided not to take any action.
Carrie Lindsay – Fife Council’s executive director of education and children’s services – said: “The safety of all our children and young people is of the utmost importance and we have robust policies and procedures in place to deal with matters like this, if they arise.
“However, we do not discuss the individual circumstances of either current or former employees.”
“At the top end of the spectrum of seriousness,” was how Bryant’s actions were described by GTC solicitor Ms Doherty as the hearing concluded.
She said: “The ability of pupils and parents to trust the wellbeing of their children with teachers is one of the cornerstones of the education system.
“The teacher not only abused that position of trust but embarked on a prolonged sexual and emotional relationship with Pupil A which goes against the standards expected of a registered professional entrusted with the care of children.”
This article was published on Thursday May 4 and has since been updated to reflect developments in the story.
