Teacher who 'throttled' five-year-old is struck off

Benjamin Warner, 36, also knocked the same boy off a chair, causing him to bang his head on a tiled floor at the village school.

A disciplinary hearing in Cardiff was told how Mr Warner also shut three children in a store cupboard and dragged a boy by his jumper across the school hall.

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The throat-grabbing incident was witnessed by Gemma McCluskey - a trainee teaching assistant at the Sandy Lane Infants School in Caldicot, South Wales - who ran sobbing from the classroom.

Headmistress Susan Richards told a disciplinary hearing: "Gemma was shaking and crying and saying, 'He's throttling him, he's got a pupil by the throat!' We were appalled."

The hearing was told that Mr Warner, of Lydney, Gloucestershire, had lost his temper when the pupil jumped on to his back and put his arm around his neck in December 2005, a few months after he had gained his post there.

Mrs Richards said: "I was concerned about the safety of the children and my priority was getting Mr Warner out of the classroom.

"In more than 30 years of teaching I had never dealt with such a severe case. He could not cope or control his temper."

The General Teaching Council for Wales hearing in Cardiff was told the teacher had "lost it" with his class and had "lost all control of his actions".

Mr Warner was first suspended from the school before being sacked for gross misconduct. Although no criminal charges were brought and no parents complained to police, Mr Warner's actions were scrutinised by the local education authority, police and colleagues.

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The hearing was also told how Mr Warner dragged another pupil across the hall by his sweatshirt after a toy car the teacher had brought in was damaged.

The boy was left with a red mark on his arm.

Deputy headmistress Elizabeth Beynon said: "Mr Warner was clutching a fistful of the pupil's sweatshirt across his collarbone.

"I saw him pull the pupil eight metres in the direction of the boys' toilets.

"The children were very shocked. They were scared of him. These are five and six-year-old children and he was quite a large gentleman and he could put these children at risk."

The hearing was also told that he shut three more pupils in a store cupboard after they went to look at toys inside and refused to come out.

At the hearing, he was found guilty of 11 out of 12 charges of unacceptable professional conduct and serious professional incompetence.

He was struck off the teachers' register and banned from reapplying to teach for five years.

Mr Warner - who was hired by the school for his experience and ability to handle "challenging situations" - said in a letter that he felt there was a lack of support to help him deal with six disruptive children in the class.

He wrote: "I didn't have enough support from the school."

But professional conduct and competence committee chairman Mrs Jacquie Turnbull said: "Mr Warner's conduct was fundamentally incompatible with being a registered teacher.

"His conduct seriously affected the well-being of pupils - both deliberately and through incompetence."

Mr Warner was not at the hearing but said later: "I don't want to talk about it any more.

"It has dragged on for a year and a half and just thinking about it makes me feel sick. I have had enough."