Married teacher ‘had 18-month affair with girl pupil and had sex with her in a Travelodge’ 

A married Scottish teacher is facing the sack for an alleged 18-month affair with a schoolgirl in which the pair reportedly used burner phones to arrange illicit meet-ups that included sneaking off to car parks and Travelodge to have sex.

Dr Iain David Bryant taught chemistry at Levenmouth Academy in Leven, Fife, and is claimed to have begun an illicit tryst with the student – known simply as Pupil A – in October 2017. 

The teacher, known as David to friends and colleagues, allegedly kissed the unnamed student – who was under 18 at the time – after she came to him when she was having a hard time in school.   

This initial kiss allegedly developed further, and it is claimed that they began a full sexual relationship after she turned 18, and would sneak off to desolate car parks to ‘engage in oral sex and foreplay’.

The 55-year-old is appearing at five-day hearing of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).

Bryant faces eight allegations in total, and if found guilty could be removed from the teaching register.

On Monday, the General Teaching Council for Scotland heard evidence from Pupil A about how her relationship with Bryant (pictured) began

He is accused of kissing and touching the girl in a school laboratory, giving her a mobile phone so they could communicate and establishing a code word they could use as part of their alleged illicit relationship. 

After the girl turned 18, Bryant is said to have met her several times a week to engage in sexual activity.

Bryant – who now works as a celebrant – allegedly met the student in a nearby Travelodge after she turned 18 to have sex.

According to the pupil, this followed a series of secretive meetings in desolate car parks and garages where they would engage in oral sex and foreplay.

During the hearing, the three-person panel for the GTCS heard from Levenmouth Academy head teacher Ronnie Ross, who claimed that he discovered hidden notes that had been passed between the pair following Bryant’s suspension in 2019.

Mr Ross also said he found a series of ‘trinkets and a soft toy’ that were exchanged as gifts between Bryant and the girl.

In his evidence on Tuesday, Mr Ross said: ‘There were trinkets, a small soft toy and I saw some messages that were kept next to the items, it was a large cupboard behind the learning wall.’

Lauren Doherty, presenting officer for the GTCS, asked the headteacher whether the notes revealed much about the alleged relationship, but Mr Ross refuted the claim.

Dr Iain David Bryant taught chemistry at Levenmouth Academy in Leven, Fife (pictured), when it is claimed he begun an illicit tryst with the student – known simply as Pupil A

Instead, he told the panel how they were ‘superficial’, saying: ‘The notes were just correspondence between the pupil and the member of staff that were private, nothing that was shocking but the fact that there were little notes and Pupil A had told a teacher that when they got the gifts and when they were exchanged.

‘There was love and kisses, no suggestion of sexual intercourse, it was more superficial things that were said. You thought “My goodness they shouldn’t have done that”.’

The panel also heard from Dean Hendry, Levenmouth’s principal teacher of history and modern studies, who spoke about how he became aware of a rumour of a romance between the pair following a school trip.

Mr Hendry said yesterday: ‘It was a higher modern studies trip to the parliament building in Edinburgh, it was in relation to gossip they had heard on the day of the modern studies trip to the Scottish Parliament.

‘[They told me] at the end of the school day around 4pm when they returned from the school trip.

‘[Teachers] Steve Davies and Laura Barrowman were having lunch and the pupils were having lunch and what they said was pupils behind them [were] talking about teachers they fancied and at one point they overheard a pupil had a relationship with a teacher at Buckhaven.

‘They were earwigging, listening into conversations they weren’t really meant to be a part of.

‘I can’t confirm if that was the word used, relationship or affair, but it was along those lines.’

But the teacher claimed that he couldn’t report the allegations, because he was not sure of which teacher he would be reporting on.

He told the GTCS how the affair came to light six months later when staff were finally told of the allegations against Dave Bryant, saying: ‘I think it must have been at least six months after Dave had been suspended, staff weren’t told initially and rightly so, people began to chat and say he had been suspended for an alleged relationship with a pupil.’

Meanwhile, on Monday 1 May, the GTCS heard evidence on Monday from Pupil A about how her relationship with her teacher began.

She explained: ‘It started out that David was just a teacher that I could have a rant with, it was just the two of us, most of the time the door was shut. I had a hard time in school and he would be the teacher I could talk to.

‘In November of 2017, one of the times I was talking, he made a comment about wanting to kiss me and I told him to go for it so he did and we were kissing pretty much everyday. The relationship lasted about three years from when I was 17 and I ended it as I had become more mature and sick of being second best so I told him to choose between me and his wife.’

Pupil A also told the hearing of the extreme measures Bryant took to keep their relationship a secret from his wife.

It was heard that he went as far as buying a burner phone, and using a family member’s home to meet up with her.

The now-23-year-old told the GTCS: ‘A month after [we first kissed] he bought a pay as you go phone so we could talk over the Christmas break.

‘At the beginning it was just me confiding in him, after the kiss it went from there, he would pick me up from school and we would drive about and chat. It was mostly mutual, I wouldn’t put it all on him, we didn’t sleep together until March of 2018 when I had turned 18 years old.

‘From the beginning he would tell his wife he had things on so we could meet, when we met up it was always in secret and in the car. He had keys to a second house, I think it was his wife’s cousin’s home so we started meeting there.’

The hearing heard that the illicit affair saw the pair kissing and touching in a science lab in Levenmouth Academy as well as meeting to cavort in cars outside East Fife FC’s Bayview stadium.

Pupil A also revealed that the pair began a full sexual relationship at a Travelodge in Glenrothes, Fife – but this happened after she had turned 18.

Pupil A said: ‘There was a lot more oral sex and foreplay leading up to when we slept together. I had never had a relationship like that before so it was all very new to me and I was hesitant to begin with.

‘There’s a local football ground at Bayview and there is rubble ground which is used as a car park so we would use that a lot.

‘[We had sex] in the local travelodge in Glenrothes.

‘I think it was chosen as it was more accommodating than a car seat and the local Travelodge is only a five minute drive for me but far enough away from where he stays that he wouldn’t be caught.’

The hearing continues.