Teacher found half-naked in lay-by with pupil, 17, complains she 'doesn't get invited to parties' after conviction
A teacher who was found semi-naked with a pupil in her car after a Christmas party has said she is being 'stigmatised' following the conviction.
Eppie Sprung Dawson, now 38, and a student, then 17, were found partially undressed in a car in a lay-by in Dumfries in December 2012.
The former teacher at St Joseph's College was 26 at the time, and the relationship was not illegal.
However, Dawson was still hit with an abuse of trust charge which she admitted to in court.
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Although she was not jailed, Dawson was taken off the teaching register and received a six-month community payback order, as well as a six-month stay on the sex offenders' register.
Dawson, who now runs a charity to help people with criminal convictions 'to navigate the stigma and discrimination,' said she has faced many 'challenges' since.
"I have a conviction for a sexual offence. I was a teacher and I had an affair with a 17-year-old pupil, so I do have experience of, kind of, living with the challenges that a person can face as a result of having a criminal record," she said in a radio phone-in with BBC Radio Scotland.
"I never experienced a custodial sentence, but I certainly did experience stigma.
"I mean, I had an exceptionally large amount of press coverage, media coverage, for many, many years following my conviction.
"And I think I would say that was the most difficult thing I experienced.
"But I mean, of course, as with people with a conviction for a sexual offence particularly, face the highest degree of stigma.
"And so things like employment, even things like not being invited to my daughter’s friends’ birthday parties."
When she was sentenced in court, judge Sherriff George Jamieson said: "You were there simply to teach, but you have been called into temptation and you have committed adultery - your marriage is gone and your career as a teacher is gone.
"What you have been charged with is a breach of trust, and I cannot see that there is anything to be gained by a custodial sentence.
"Had it not been for the fact that you were this young man’s teacher, there would have been no criminality."
The charity, called Next Chapter Scotland, has now been set up to help with the issues former criminals 'face after involvement with the criminal justice system.'
On the website, ex criminals are quoted as saying: “I was better off in prison because I at least had people to talk to and didn’t worry about having to sleep on the street.”
“I’ll be forever known as someone who’s been to prison. No matter how much time passes or what good I do, I’ll always be judged for my past crime,” another added.
Anish Vij