A West London teacher has been banned for life after after being found to have removed pupils’ socks and massaging their feet and placed his hands under children’s’ tops. A conduct panel also concluded that Ian Marcus kissed a pupil’s head, told a child that they were ‘beautiful’ and threatened to ‘slung’ a pupil over his shoulder.
The panel’s report stated that Mr Marcus, who taught at St. Helen’s School in Northwood, carried out ‘sexually motivated behaviour’ towards three children. These were Pupil A, who was between the ages of 8 and 11 years; Pupil B, who was aged between the ages of 7 and 13 years; and Pupil C, who was between the ages of 9 and 13 years.
In its finding of facts, the panel outlined that this included telling Pupil A that she has ”beautiful’ and/or has really nice eyes’ or words to that effect’, and ‘tickling her under her armpits’. In addition, Mr Marcus was found to have held her foot and/or leg on his lap and/or placed his hands on Pupil A’s ribs and/or stomach and/or chest during breathing exercises and/or massaged Pupil A’s neck and/or back.
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The panel said that he asked Pupil B if he liked girls and/or if he liked boys, asked Pupil B to lift up his top; and/or told Pupil B that he had ‘a nice tummy and/or good physique’. Mr Marcus then ‘touched Pupil B’s stomach and/or chest and/or ribs during breathing exercises; and/or touched and/or tapped Pupil B’s stomach’.
The report also stated: “Mr Marcus denied having taken off a child’s shoes and socks and touched/massaged their feet during a lesson. He referred to ‘kids muck around and they have put their feet up and then I have removed them’ and ‘I’ve never stroked or massaged their feet.’ This is despite having subsequently admitted in the present proceedings that he massaged Pupil C’s feet.”
Mr Marcus reportedly added: “I do breathing exercises with Pupil C but that’s it. When she said she had a pain in the neck I squeezed her neck to relieve the tension. I think we have discussed this before.”
‘Showed no remorse’
Marc Cavey, Chief Executive of the TRA (Teaching Regulation Agency), noted: “Mr Marcus expressed no remorse nor any insight of the continuous impact of his actions on the pupils and their families. He did not participate in the hearing beyond having a representative attend to report back to him…”
In addition, the panel stated: “Mr Marcus’s attempt during his police interview to divert attention away from his own conduct towards Pupil A and Pupil B by suggesting he had safeguarding concerns regarding their welfare to be particularly odorous and underlined his contempt for the safeguarding of children.”
Mr Marcus worked at the school on a self-employed basis from 1991 to 2006, and was subsequently employed from September 2006 as a music teacher working 6.5 hours per week. On March 9, 2019, the Metropolitan Police notified St. Helen’s that Mr Marcus had been arrested on March 8, 2019 in relation to alleged conduct during private music lessons.
The school then suspended him. A criminal case was closed with no further action. Mr Marcus tendered his resignation on August 17, 2020. The school held a disciplinary hearing in his absence on August 26, 2020. Mr Marcus was referred to the TRA on October 5, 2020.
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