Head teacher John Tomsett claims kiss with student was a "peck" and he's a "romantic"

Huntington School head John Tomsett, 54, is alleged to have become close with a female A-level student when he was an English teacher at Eastbourne Sixth Form College in East Sussex, between 1990 and 1992.

Giving evidence to the Teacher Regulation Agency panel in Coventry today, (Wednesday, October 24) Mr Tomsett admitted his wife of 30 years years was still unaware of his affair with Student A, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Mr Tomsett said: "When I look back at this I shudder, but I was a teacher who was a romantic, an 'in love with literature type', I can't look at it in any other way. I love using ink pens.

"Now if I saw romantic comments like I wrote in a memory book I would investigate it but back then it was completely different."

Mr Tomsett, who has two sons, said he had kept his affair a secret from his family to avoid "detonating the bombshell".

He said: "I would say it was naive - at the time I could say there was a connection between us but that developed in the last couple of months at the school, in April and May 1992.

"I would look back at that as a mature man with an utter horror, back when I was a 27-year-old teacher.

"At the time I was conflicted, I was married in 1988, three days before I started at the college, I knew my wife for six years and I was suffering from confusing emotions, I had to grapple with them.

"I have had a long marriage. We have two children both of whom are dependent on us.

"At times our relationship has been difficult.

"My wife does not know about my affair with Student A and I am extremely worried that any knowledge of it would cause her to leave me.

“I was student A’s teacher - I did not want to engage in a relationship outside my marriage.

"On the last day I can remember there being a kiss but not how she described it, it was a peck.

“She ran off and I ran after her - she went down the stairs - I called after her but she did not come back.

"I am not sure if it was a peck on the cheek or on the mouth.

"The only thing I would say, the only person who can judge my moral conduct would be my wife.

"I did not bring the profession into disrepute."

Previously, the woman, now in her 40s, described how Mr Tomsett pulled her towards him as he sat on a desk in May 1992.

She described her difficult home life when she began at the college in September 1990, and said receiving attention from Mr Tomsett made her feel “special”.

The panel heard full intercourse did not take place in the period in the 1990s but the relationship was rekindled in 2011, when the pair had sex twice.

The hearing continues.