Teacher who had sex with pupil, 17, in lay-by after school dance says her life has been ruined by conviction

By Christian Oliver

A teacher who had sex with her 17-year-old student in a lay-by says her life has been ruined by her sex conviction and that she has faced 'stigma' by the offences.

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Eppie Sprung Dawson, 38, was convicted of sex offences after being found half-naked with the pupil inside a car by patrolling police officers in 2012.

Sprung Dawson, who was 26 at the time, admitted to sexual activity with a person under 18 while she was his teacher and in a position of trust but was spared jail.

She was then placed on the sex offenders' register for six months and given a half-year-long community payback order.

But ringing into a radio phone-in show, Sprung Dawson complained that she had faced "stigma" after her conviction and bemoaned press attention.

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She told BBC Radio Scotland: "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."

She continued: "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."

The phone-in was discussing the early release scheme for prisoners after some 500 inmates were due to be let out of jail in Scotland.

Sprung Dawson said her marriage ended and she lost her job after the conviction.

The court at the time heard how Sprung Dawson was discovered half-naked in her car with the male pupil back after police spotted "condensation" on her car windows. Officers found her in the front seat of her car with the pupil following the school dance.

Sprung Dawson had taught English at St Joseph’s College in Dumfries, Scotland, and had been giving the dyslexic teenager extra lessons when they were caught together.

Dumfries Sheriff Court judge George Jamieson told at her conviction: "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, and 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."

Sprung Dawson was struck off the teaching register in December 2013.

She has since founded charity Next Chapter Scotland, which works to "help anyone who has been involved with the criminal justice system to navigate the stigma and discrimination that they can face throughout their lives".