Teacher raped by 15-year-old pupil blames school for ‘putting her in the way of a rapist’

A teacher who was brutally assaulted by a 15-year-old pupil accused the school where the attack took place of ‘putting her in the way of a rapist’.

The 32-year-old, who cannot be links of london identified, said Westminster City School should have warned her that it was unsafe for her to be in her classroom alone after lessons.

The woman was attacked by powerfully-built Dwayne Best as she marked books after school - within a week of starting her job in September, 2004.

Best is serving a life links of london jewellery sentence after being convicted at the Old Bailey.

Miss X sued the governing body of the school over her ‘truly horrifying’ ordeal. She has reached a secret settlement in the damages action.

Her counsel, Neil Block QC, told Mr Justice Foskett at London’s High Court that her allegations of negligence against the school were on the basis that there had been a links of london charms previous less serious sexual assault on a cleaner.

Best also had the ‘most appalling’ documented history in and out of school, displaying a belligerent and aggressive attitude.

Speaking after the case, Miss X said she had decided to bring a civil case because she thought the school should be held to account for their failings.

‘They really failed. They let me down and I do hold them responsible for putting me in the way links of london friendship bracelet of a rapist.’

She said that the school had a duty of care to its employees under health and safety law which had not been followed.

The school should have carried out a risk assessment after the cleaner had been attacked, Miss X said.

‘Nobody warned me. On a basic level that’s what it comes down to, if they had warned me, I wouldn’t have been there in the classroom.

‘I take my own safety very Links of London watch seriously and I always have. I don’t put myself in those kind of positions.

‘Somebody else put me in the way of a rapist, that infuriates me intensely. Everybody has the right, not only to not be raped, but to make decisions about their own safety.’

Miss X said that Best’s links of london school records showed a ‘degenerative’ pattern of behaviour that the school should have picked up on.

‘It was really bad management. If you have pupils who are in need of structure and behavioural management then you have in place policies and structures for teachers to use.’

Best’s continually disruptive links of london necklaces behaviour meant he should have been excluded, she said.

‘If they had done right by me, I wouldn’t have been there, and if they had done right by him, he was entitled to be properly managed, he wouldn’t have been there.