Watchdog bans physics teacher for life after he drove to a sixth-former's home at 1am and asked her: 'You're not gonna tell anyone are you'

Published 29 October 2026, 13:47

• Swindon physics teacher Mark Fletcher groomed a pupil for a sexual relationship, a Teaching Regulation Agency panel found
• Gushing letters told the sixth-former 'It is rare to meet someone who changes who you are' before things turned sexual
• Unrepentant, he can never apply to teach again, with the panel warning of a 'significant risk of repetition'

A physics teacher who drove to a sixth-form pupil's home at 1am, sat with her in his car until 6am, and then asked "You're not gonna tell anyone are you" has been permanently banned from teaching, with no right ever to apply for reinstatement.

Mark Fletcher, who taught at Ridgeway School and Sixth Form College in Swindon from September 2009, was found by a Teaching Regulation Agency panel to have groomed the pupil — identified only as Pupil A — and developed a sexual relationship with her.

All five allegations against him were proven.

Fletcher did not attend the hearing or engage with the proceedings.

The ban, issued on 9 October 2026 by decision maker Stuart Blomfield on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, means that "Mr Mark Fletcher is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England" and that "Mr Fletcher shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach."

The grooming began, the panel found, in July and August 2019, shortly after Pupil A finished her exams.

Fletcher gave her a farewell card reading "FAREWELL BUT NOT FAREWELL. YOU ARE AMAZING. DO NOT FORGET US. ALWAYS HERE. KEEP IN TOUCH! MR FLETCHER" and tucked inside it a typed letter that included the lines "It is rare to meet someone who changes who you are" and "You have had a real effect on me."

The panel established the timing through Pupil A's reply email of 23 July 2019, in which she wrote: "I decided to wait till I was in a bad mood to read your card."

Fletcher then sent a stream of late-night emails from his personal address — at 2:38am, 4:04am, 1:44am, 3:50am and 12:39am on various dates in July and August 2019.

On 30 August 2019, at 1:44am, he emailed Pupil A: "Do you actually want to meet up and talk… Free most days from midnight… reckon I can do tomorrow/the early hours of Saturday if that works, so long as it's not raining."

He then drove to her house.

Pupil A "snuck out" to meet him and they sat talking in his car until around 6am.

During that meeting, Fletcher said: "You're not gonna tell anyone are you."

When she said she would not, he replied: "good, I trust you."

At the school's disciplinary appeal hearing, Fletcher called the allegation "That is a lie."

The panel found that this pattern of behaviour "was akin to grooming, in that it served to establish Pupil A's trust and emotional dependence and facilitated the subsequent development of a romantic and sexual relationship after she left the School."

Pupil A said his behaviour "encouraged an emotional bond, which she considered to be flattering at the time and made her feel special."

From August to December 2019, Fletcher held Pupil A's hand during late-night meetings in his car, and the relationship became sexual in December 2019, with physical sexual activity taking place late at night in his car.

Pupil A reported the relationship to the school in June 2023.

Fletcher was suspended on 3 July 2023 and dismissed on 4 October 2023.

Police investigated but took no formal action.

The panel found "there was insufficient evidence that he had recognised why his conduct was inappropriate" and concluded there remained "a significant risk of repetition of the behaviours it had found proven."