A HIGHLY-regarded PE teacher from Chester has been cleared of assaulting a primary school pupil who had been disruptive during a lesson.

It was alleged that Jean McCormick, 67, had grabbed the boy by the arm at Overleigh St Mary’s Primary School in Handbridge last summer, leaving a bruise.

But District Judge Nicholas Sanders acquitted her amid emotional scenes following a trial at Chester Magistrates Court on Monday (February 18).

He pulled no punches delivering his verdict, saying the Crown Prosecution Service’s case had fallen a “very, very long way short” of securing a conviction.

He told the court: “It is deeply sad that a lady of Mrs McCormick’s experience should be dragged through the court on what really comes down to the flimsiest of evidence, fuelled by an irrational and over-protective mother.

"There’s absolutely no way a court could convict anyone on the evidence before it here.”

The court heard Mrs McCormick had been a teacher at the school for 38 years and no other complaints had ever been made against her.

Chester and District Standard:

Overleigh St Mary's Primary School in Handbridge.

The judge said he had read a “stunning set of references” from her colleagues and supporters across both Chester and Ellesmere Port, where she co-ordinates sports programmes.

Tearful but relieved, Mrs McCormick told the Standard after the hearing that she just wanted to draw a line under the case now.

It came about after a witness – whose son was best friends with the alleged victim – said she had been left “shocked and startled” to see a teacher being so forceful with a pupil.

She had been waiting to pick up her own child when she heard Mrs McCormick shouting out the name of the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

He had broken into a run as the class was walking back to the school changing rooms after a PE lesson.

“She was obviously frustrated and angry from the tone that she spoke to him,” the witness said.

“I turned and looked and she had hold of him. I was just startled. It was so forceful. I was shocked.

"I thought ‘I can’t believe what I’ve just seen’. It instantly worried me that my son is in this school and in these lessons.”

She told the boy’s mother, who in her own evidence at the trial said she had been so angry that she contacted the police. She also made complaints to the school’s board of governors and education watchdog Ofsted, the court heard.

Barrister Ryan Rothwell, defending, suggested there had been a number of previous issues between the mother and the school and in his closing speech stated there might have been a “vendetta at play”.

In her own testimony Mrs McCormick said she had dealt with a range of pupils, including those with learning and behavioural issues, and had been trained to deal with them appropriately.

She told the court that the boy in question had been calling another pupil names during the PE lesson and she had sat the class down to reinforce the message that they should be kind to each other.

However, at the end of the lesson the boy began name-calling again and ran off when the pupils had been told to walk.

Mrs McCormick said she had shouted his name and then held him lightly by the shoulders to reiterate the ‘no running’ rule, in accordance with her training.

“I wasn’t cross with him,” she said. “I was just a bit frustrated because we’d been through this the whole lesson.”

Ronan Molloy, prosecuting, suggested her “patience had been wearing thin”, and asked: “You were frustrated with [the boy’s] behaviour.

"It was towards the end of the school day, he’s been acting up and upsetting other children in the class. He’s run off and you’ve just lost it for a moment, haven’t you?”

“That’s not correct,” Mrs McCormick replied. “I wasn’t even cross with him – slightly frustrated, yes.”

She also claimed she was not responsible for the bruising on the boy’s arm, adding: “Most children are covered in bruises at that age, just from being in the playground and playing games, being with brothers and sisters.”

District Judge Sanders said her version of events was entirely credible, from a woman who was “extremely well thought of” and with no blemish on her character in 40 years of teaching.

In his judgement he said the actions of the boy’s mother suggested she was “clearly bent on causing as much trouble as possible, based on the account of one person”.

He accepted the witness had seen “an incident” but “got two and two to make five”.

Mrs McCormick, of Great Boughton, Chester, remained employed by the school on a part-time basis throughout the investigation. She could have stopped working a number of years ago but stayed on as she "loves teaching". She confirmed she is now retiring this year.