A TEACHER jailed and sacked for firing an airgun in a row with youths has been told she can return to work in classrooms.

Linda Walker, 50, broke down in tears at a make-or-break disciplinary hearing.

Mrs Walker, of Holly House Drive, Urmston, faced having her professional registration withdrawn - banning her from teaching.

Instead she was given a reprimand lasting for two years, which she must disclose to any employer.

After the hearing, she said: "I am thrilled to bits. Absolutely delighted."

She said she now wanted to teach adults and write her memoirs. She said: "I hope I can finally put this behind me. They can't do anything more to me now, that's the last of it.

"I feel like this is the end of a chapter, but I can't forget about what's happened and move on until I have got my book out there. That's my way of setting the record straight.

"I feared my career was finished because the convictions were so serious. I feel ashamed of my actions and I have still got the convictions. I feel glad they considered the mitigating factors - that I was under a lot of pressure from crime and vandalism against my family and I was ill with the anxiety this caused, particularly as my children were increasingly the target."

Nadine Bristow, chair of the General Teaching Council committee, said: "The reprimand is appropriate because Mrs Walker has shown insight and remorse into her behaviour - she said she is ashamed of her conduct."

She said she `appeared to have learnt her lesson'.

Mrs Walker wept as she admitted unacceptable professional conduct at the Birmingham hearing and described the frightening torment the gang inflicted on her family, including nuisance calls and vandalism.

She told the hearing: "It was obvious in the end that it was aimed at my children and I was frightened at what was going to happen to them. I did not know where they would be prepared to stop."

Asking the committee not to ban her from teaching, she said: "I have got remorse and I am totally ashamed of what I did.

"I have already paid a heavy price, having been in three prisons, suffered public humiliation, lost my job and my livelihood."

A jury in Manchester heard the mum-of-three fired a gun near a teenager's feet. She was jailed for six months. The appeal court quashed the jail sentence, replacing it with a conditional discharge.

At the time of the incident, Mrs Walker taught children with behavioural problems at New Park High School in Eccles, Salford.

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