Derek Curran: Disgraced Edinburgh superhead claims paternity test was fake

A head teacher who was sacked following an allegation that he had a child with a former pupil has told an inquiry that a paternity document was a forgery.

Derek Curran faces being banned from teaching

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Derek Curran was brought in to turn around the struggling Castlebrae High School in 2013 but was suspended a year later following allegations that he had fathered a child with a former pupil who returned as an adult learner.

The allegation came to light during an investigation into the student's accusations she had been sexually harassed by a teacher at Castlebrae Community High.

Now more than eight years after he was suspended and then later sacked the former head teacher has told a fitness to teach hearing that the allegations that he had had a sexual relationship with the young woman were false.

Addressing the General Teaching Council for Scotland hearing, he referred to a document that appeared to be from Alpha Biolabs, a DNA testing service.

In the letter – seen by the Evening News - it states that a test revealed the probability of Mr Curran having fathered the child of the adult learner was 99.9 per cent.

The young woman, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, was 24 when she alleged Mr Curran had a sexual relationship with her that started when she was 15.

Before the panel on Thursday, Mr Curran said his lawyers found out that the doctor who signed the letter – a D A C Fergus – was not an employee of Alpha Biolabs.

Mr Curran read from a letter he said he received from the company which read: "I can confirm that the report provided is not the format in which we would report a DNA test . This is not an Alpha Biolabs report."

Mr Curran was suspended as a result of allegations of sexual impropriety and allegations he failed to properly investigate alleged sexual harassment of the same young woman by one of his colleagues, referred to as Teacher A, who was later given a community sentence.

The sexual emails by Teacher A were first reported to Mr Curran in December 2013 but an internal investigation was still ongoing six months later, when the council took over following complaints by a whistleblower.

Mr Curran told the panel on Thursday he was satisfied that since the accused teacher was off sick for several months in early 2014 he concluded that any ‘immediate risk’ to the young woman and others had been removed.

Teacher A made graphic sexual references in over 40 emails to the same young mother, who was later given a payout, understood to be £30,000, by the council in compensation.

Mr Curran was sacked by Edinburgh City Council in 2015. He told the hearing that the investigation was delayed due to Teacher A’s absence.

In 2018 an employment tribunal awarded him £10,000 after it ruled that he had been unfairly dismissed, but found he had been guilty of a "dereliction of duty" for not reporting "as a matter of urgency" the claims of abuse.

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