Teacher found half naked in layby with pupil, 17, moans ‘I don’t get invited to kids’ parties anymore’ after conviction

A TEACHER found half naked in a layby with a teen pupil has moaned "I don't get invited to kids' parties anymore" after her conviction.

Eppie Sprung Dawson was convicted of having sex with a 17-year-old pupil after patrol cops found her inside her car with the teen.

She admitted sexual activity with a person under 18 while she was his teacher and in a position of trust.

The 38-year-old was placed on the sex offenders’ register for six months and given a half-year-long community payback order.

Yesterday Sprung Dawson rang into a BBC Radio Scotland phone-in to whinge about the "stigma" she faces.

She said: "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.

"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."

'CALLED INTO TEMPTATION'

Sprung Dawson drove to a secluded layby with the teen in December 2012 following a school Christmas dance and had sex with him.

The pair were discovered by a police patrol who spotted condensation on the car windows and found them in the front seat.

Sprung Dawson, then aged 26, taught English at St Joseph’s College in Dumfries.

She had agreed to give the dyslexic teenager extra lessons - but lost her job and marriage following her disgrace.

Judge George Jamieson decided to spare Sprung Dawson a jail sentence following her conviction at Dumfries Sheriff Court in 2013.

He told her: "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.

"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."

MISS DEMEANOUR

Sprung Dawson ended up living with the teen in her marital home less than two months after she was put on the sex offenders' register.

But the teen said they were not in a relationship and he later moved out.

Sprung Dawson was struck off the teaching register following her conviction and has since set up a charity, Next Chapter Scotland.

The charity "‘helps anyone who has been involved with the criminal justice system to navigate the stigma and discrimination that they can face throughout their lives".

It aims to create a society which "no longer judges people based on their worst choices but, instead, sees them as they are today".

Next Chapter Scotland has been handed grants from the National Lottery and other charity funds.