Mrs Walker was jailed in 2005 for firing into the ground near the group who she claimed had harassed her family. Following the conviction, she lost her £30,000-a-year job at New Park High School, Eccles. But now officials at the Department for Education and Skills have decided that the convictions, for affray and possession of a weapon with intent to cause fear, do not mean that she is unsuitable to work with children.
The DfES has passed the matter to the General Teaching Council, which will have the final say on whether Mrs Walker can retain her teaching registration.
Since receiving clearance from the DfES, Mrs Walker has volunteered to help at a school for children with special needs close to her Urmston home.
She said she is `relieved' and `delighted' at the decision. Ultimately she hopes to take up a teaching role.
"I always hoped that I wouldn't be banned, because there had never been any complaints about me as a teacher," said Mrs Walker. "What happened, happened in my personal life and not my professional life."
Mrs Walker fired the pellet gun in August 2004. In 2005, she was jailed for six months, but released after 36 days when an appeal court quashed her sentence, but not her convictions. Mrs Walker, who admits her actions were wrong, wants to challenge her convictions, as she believes the charges were extreme.
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She should never have been jailed in the first place. I wish her all the best in gaining employment.
i was just about to say she should never have been jailed in the first place, but the previous poster got there before me :) all the best for the future linda. i just hope this experience hasn't put you off standing up for yourself.
I totally agree with Miss Kat; Linda Walker should never have been arrested let alone convicted. As for her dismissal from her teaching post, I think that says more about the education bosses and counsellors at Salford City Council who were, as usual, more concerned about protecting their own backs that they were about the human rights of Ms Walker. Hers was a miscarriage of justice if ever I saw one.
Good luck Miss Walker. The police let you down and you paid the price.
Well done for getting back into teaching. Glad to hear some commence sense starting to emerge. And as previously stated if the police and courts did there job properly Linda would not have been pushed to the limit.... All the very best in for your future Linda, You deserve some good luck for change.
Mrs Walker was not convicted of firing an airgun in to the ground but for possesion of a fire arm with intent to cause fear of voilence for which she got 5 months and she got a further month for affray.
That she was driven to it does not give anyone the right to threaten innocent parties.
I wish her well, as by all acounts she is an excellent teacher who was badly let down by the police .
am i missing something here? this woman fired a gun near people... and 12 "just and true" found her guilty of that offence. thanks but no thanks, i wouldnt want her teaching my kids.
she was not "disgraced" in my opinion. It was Salford councillors (pc gravy trainers), the police and the yobbos who were a disgrace in this case.
That's right, you can go around shooting guns and causing affray with impunity.
Don't think so. Blaming councillors is pathetic. She has been through the justice system and been found guilty. An inconvenient fact obviously.
I certainly wouldn't want her near my kids.
Shes probably a very good teacher. Should take the gun to school that will be the biggest improved GCSE results in Manchester
Thanks for the support again folks! I wouldn't blame anyone for not wanting someone with those convictions with their children but the charges were excessive for what I actually did. The police have retracted that I discharged the air pistol "at the feet of a youth between 2 & 6 times" that "I did fire the pistol at them" that the air pistol was "loaded" the strong inference that I was drunk,"Lacks integrity" & "Manipulated the media"
The incident was taken out of context, it was no accident that no one was hurt. The sentence was quoshed.(I could have got ten years) The case has now gone to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Thank god the public saw common sense or I could still be rotting in prison.