Boarding school head did not report rape claim by student against classmate

The head of a prestigious boarding school has been found guilty of misconduct after failing to report an accusation that a pupil had raped another.

Chris Alcock, 59, said he did not think it was his ‘concern’ because the alleged attack happened outside the £30,000-a-year Queen’s College in Taunton, Somerset

However, it meant that the accuser and the accused had to attend lessons together for a year, a Teacher Regulation Agency’s misconduct panel was told.

Earlier this week, the agency had heard he had kept the secrets of a vulnerable former pupil who later killed herself.

He defended his actions by claiming he had promised architecture student Juliet Crew he would not tell anyone about her suicidal thoughts as he feared she might take her life.

Miss Crew, 22, took her life in August 2015 having left the school for university in Nottingham three years earlier.

Her suicide note claimed she had been raped by her stepfather.

The disciplinary hearing was also told of a text message sent by married Mr Alcock to Miss Crew in July 2015 which read: ‘I love you.’

Mr Alcock had already resigned from his job in May 2016 after he was accused of watching inappropriate videos and images on school computers.

He admitted searching for the term ‘schoolgirls’ but said that he had become distracted while carrying out research on YouTube for footage about the Masai tribe.

He had been headteacher at the school since 2001.

The Teaching Regulation Agency have said the former head teacher’s actions amounted to serious misconduct and have referred the matter to the education secretary.