Headteacher wins £700,000 in compensation after being fired for having sex with two 17-year-old boys
Matthew Aplin was fired after it was revealed he met the two teenagers off Grindr
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
A primary school headteacher who was dismissed from his job after having sex with two 17 year olds he met on Grindr wins nearly £700,000 in compensation.
Matthew Aplin was the headteacher at Tywyn Primary School, in West Glamorgan, but earlier this year, he was fired after he had sex with two 17 year olds he met on the hook-up app.
But while police and the local authority decided he had not committed any offence, the school governors decided to dismiss him.
Aplin challenged their decision but decided to resign and claimed that he was a victim of constructive dismissal and claimed he was a victim of ‘unfair dismissal and sexual orientation discrimination’.
He argued that what he had done was lawful and part of his private life and that the report was ‘biased and homophobic’.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) found that the former headteacher would have been treated differently if he was a heterosexual male having sex with teenage girls.
Now, according to the Guardian, Aplin won the tribunal but the school appealed the decision.
But the tribunal upheld its original decision and the governing body was ordered to pay the headteacher more than £696,000.
“His career shows the claimant to be an individual who was dedicated to working in the education sector and someone who was not only ambitious but effectively so,” the tribunal said.
“The claimant was therefore a well-qualified and experienced school manager with extensive teaching experience.”