Former pupils of paedophile teacher Blair Paton have told of their shock and described him as someone with an unusually keen interest in children’s lives both inside and outside of school.
Paton, a technical studies teacher at St Machar Academy, was convicted of possessing more than 1,700 indecent images of children, some as young as five, at Aberdeen Sheriff Court earlier this week.
The dad-of-one downloaded and viewed the sickening images between May and July 2020 after installing the Kik messenger to his phone.
The case shocked parents and pupils from across the north-east and prompted Aberdeen City Council to set up a helpline for families.
The Press and Journal has now spoken to former pupils of the disgraced teacher, who describe some of his behaviour over the years as “unprofessional” and “weird”.
It is claimed the former Mackie Academy teacher would friend pupils on Facebook and social media and even invited them to night-time music gigs.
But the claims – none of which allege criminal activity – raise questions about whether complaints into Paton’s behaviour were made to local authorities before his arrest in July 2021.
The city council refused to discuss the case further or say whether any reports had been received in the past.
Paton, 39, also worked at Meldrum Academy, but Aberdeenshire Council has not responded to any of our questions about the case.
‘It made us feel sometimes a little bit intimidated’
A former pupil at Stonehaven’s Mackie Academy, who was 11 when he taught her in 2014, said she was “shocked” to discover Paton friended pupils on Facebook.
“It was quite confusing. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen a teacher on Facebook, but it was one of the first times I’d seen them with mutual friends,” she said.
“At first, I assumed it was maybe friends of friends, because we both live in the Stonehaven area, and then I went on and had a look and it was like ‘oh, no, they’re actually students.’
“I was shocked because I wouldn’t assume that somebody of his age would have somebody of our age on Facebook.”
She also claimed that he was the only teacher in her school who would physically touch her hand during lessons.
She said: “Being a tech teacher, he was quite hands-on with us. It’s not like he was abusive or anything, just sometimes a little bit too close to your comfort zone.
“Sometimes, to show us how to do measurements he’d place his hand on top of ours to show the measurement.
“It wasn’t the nicest of feelings because his hands kind of dwarfed ours when they moved ours. It made us feel sometimes a little bit intimidated.
“In my six years of being at Mackie, I don’t think I ever had a teacher other than Mr Paton take my hand and place it somewhere.”
She went on to describe him as “nice” but said he stood out because of how much of a keen interest in he would take in youngsters’ lives beyond the school gates.
She said: “Sometimes he’d asked what you were doing during the week, what you’re doing after school.
“Then he’d start asking a little bit about your home life, about your personal life. Then it was your hobbies, then it was your interests in school, outside of school, or ‘if we ever need to find you, where can we find you?’”
Are you a former pupil of Blair Paton? Do you think his behaviour in the classroom was unprofessional or did you make a complaint? Contact the crime and courts team at crimeandcourts@pressandjournal.co.uk
Another former pupil, who was in second year at Bankhead Academy when Paton taught there in 2005/06, described his behaviour around pupils as “weird”.
She said: “He used to invite us into his classroom at breaktimes, which I always thought was odd. Why would you want to hang about with a bunch of teenagers on our break? That’s really weird.
“I never used to go. But my friends fancied him and he started adding them as a friend on Bebo (social media).
“At the time, I just thought it was unprofessional.
“My friends never said that he made any inappropriate movements towards them physically or anything like that.
“At the time, it felt like he’s just trying to be the cool teacher, trying to get down with the kids. That’s how it came across to me.”
Aberdeen City Council’s chief education officer, Eleanor Sheppard, has said that no young people in the city are thought to be connected to the case.
A council spokeswoman said: “As this is a police matter it would not be appropriate for Aberdeen City Council to comment. Regarding whether we have received any reports, we do not comment on individual staffing matters.”
Who is Blair Paton?
Fife-born Paton’s teaching career began in the spotlight.
In 2005 he was selected to take part in the BBC One documentary Teacher Teacher, which followed the progress of six Aberdeen University students as they went through teacher training.
Camera crews followed Paton for a year during his placements, including at Meldrum Academy.
The programme made him the apparent poster boy of teaching, with the Evening Express describing him as “not your average teacher”.
“Skateboarding and playing guitar in a pub band are not top of the average schoolteacher’s curriculum,” we wrote in November 2005.
“But then Blair Paton isn’t an average teacher.
“He spends his evenings blasting out the latest sounds with his band.
“He spends his days asking for silence so his schoolchildren make the most of their education.”
‘There is part of me that’s still a kid’
Paton, then 21, told the Evening Express that he went into teaching because he wanted to give something back to society.
He said his ethos was to treat kids with respect.
He said: “A lot of people have a warped perspective of the behaviour of school children. My thinking is that if you treat them with respect they treat you with respect. The behaviour of pupils is no worse now than it ever was.
“Children are just encouraged to act more like human beings and less like robots.
“I think teaching is something I could be good at,” he added.
“After all, there is part of me that’s still a kid.”
Away from the classroom, Paton was bass guitar and vocalist with punk rock band Quik between 2001 and 2007 and again during a brief reform in 2015.
The three-piece band’s self-released EP ‘0% Attendance – 100% Punktuality’ garnered the attention of Carjack Records, who signed the band for their next release ‘Here Comes the Fall…’
Quik gained a name for themselves in Aberdeen playing fast melodic skatepunk, before branching out into the punk scene across Scotland.
What happens next?
Now that dad-of-one Paton has admitted having the indecent images, of which more than 1,700 were found on his mobile phone, he’ll be sentenced at Aberdeen Sheriff Court next month.
Meantime he’s been placed on the Sex Offenders Register and he’ll have to meet with social workers who will write background reports and see whether he’s suitable for a curfew.
But a custodial sentence will also be on the table, despite Paton having no previous convictions.
Will he be struck off?
The General Teaching Council for Scotland has the power to ban Paton from teaching but was unable to provide any information about whether a hearing has already taken place into his case.
Information would be published “only where they reach a certain stage in the process”.
The spokeswoman added: “Should a teacher be referred to GTC Scotland, be investigated, and we decide that there is sufficient evidence to prove an allegation, a fitness to teach panel considers the case and decides whether to: take no further action because fitness to teach is not impaired; issue a consent order; or refer the case on for a full hearing.”
Paton, for now at least, remains on their register.
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