A FORMER deputy principal of Launceston College has been found guilty of ‘unacceptable professional conduct’ after he sent a string of late-night messages to a former pupil.

Mr David Egford was found guilty at a misconduct panel hosted by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).

The panel heard that between January 16, 2024, and January 18, 2024, Mr Egford sent a number of late-night and early morning messages to a former student.

The student had reached out to Mr Egford asking for assistance in finding employment, however, the multi-day communications stretched beyond that.

During their contact, Mr Egford made a comment after the former pupil told him that she was “in bed and cold”, he had told her to put some clothes on.

Following this, Mr Egford messaged: “So this morning when we were chatting I kind of forgot I wasn’t supposed to be and I liked it and I took it too far and honestly liked the fact I thought you were in bed and not dressed. I know that’s wrong but I still don’t mind that I thought it. Just wanted to be honest.”

The former deputy had also suggested that the student ought to spend ‘more time with [him]’ and that he ‘liked what [he] saw’ after receiving a selfie from the individual hoping to demonstrate their lack of sleep through the prominence of the bags under their eyes.

During the communications, Mr Egford’s messages were sent both early in the morning and late at night, with the bulk of the communication taking place past 9pm.

However, later during their conversation, Mr Egford asked the pupil ‘would you prefer to just message me about job stuff’ to which the pupil responded, ‘yeah please’. Following this, the panel noted that Mr Egford did not attempt to pursue alternative communication.

In its investigation, the panel found that the offence of sexual communication with a child was relevant given that Mr Egford had engaged in communication with Former Pupil A that was sexual in nature, even though the panel had not found it to have been sexually motivated.

As such, the panel was satisfied that the conduct of Mr Egford amounted to misconduct of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.

However, despite the incident, the TRA panel noted that until this point, Mr Egford had an ‘exemplary and unblemished 20-year career’.

The panel also considered positive comments made during an Ofsted inspection that took place not long before the conduct. The panel noted that the Ofsted report particularly stated that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”

On top of this, the teacher had not been previously subject to disciplinary proceedings or warnings.

It was also noted that the panel had only found one message to be of a sexual nature and that it had not made a finding of sexual motivation.

Finally, the panel took into account comments made by Mr Egford during his interview, where he said he was “sincerely remorseful”, that he was “sorry to the girls, to the school, to the community” and that he does not want people “thinking this behaviour is who [he is]”.

Following the initial report of the incident, a disciplinary hearing took place on March 12, 2024, where as a result, Mr Egford was dismissed.