Yahoo News Primary school headmaster wrongly fired over Grindr threesome with teenage boys awarded £700,000
A primary school headmaster who was wrongly fired when he had sex with two 17-year-old boys at his home has been awarded almost £700,000 in damages.
Matthew Aplin, 42, was sacked as headteacher of Tywyn Primary School, in south Wales, when it emerged he had a threesome with the teenagers after meeting them on gay dating app Grindr in 2015.
Mr Aplin was found to have brought the school in Sandfields, Port Talbot, into “disrepute” following a disciplinary hearing.
He initially won an employment tribunal following his dismissal in May 2016 after claiming it was unfair and he had suffered sexual orientation discrimination.
Tywyn Primary School appealed the decision but the original ruling has been upheld and the school has been ordered to pay more than £696,000 in compensation.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal said: “His career shows the claimant to be an individual who was dedicated to working in the education sector and someone who was not only ambitious but effectively so.
“The claimant was therefore a well-qualified and experienced school manager with extensive teaching experience.”
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The tribunal criticised the governors for their ‘acquiescence’ to the local education authority (LEA) over the sacking but added it did not think the firing had anything to do with Mt Aplin’s sexuality.
Mr Aplin has yet to find another job as a headteacher and has been working in a number of primary schools on temporary contracts.
The tribunal added: “We came to the conclusion that given his existing experience he would be likely to return eventually to a headteacher role and that he would do so more quickly than he did previously because of his experience.
“Doing the best that we can, we view that this would take up to 10 years.”
