JAILED teacher Linda Walker will face a disciplinary hearing at her school to determine whether she can keep her job.
She was jailed nearly three weeks ago for firing an air pistol near a group of youths outside her home in Urmston.
Mrs Walker, 48, who has just ended a two-day hunger strike at Styal Prison, Cheshire, has yet to learn if the hearing will be held before or after she has finished her three-month sentence.
It had been thought likely that she would face some kind of disciplinary action in relation to her teaching job.
And last night an education boss confirmed that Mrs Walker would face a hearing at New Park High School in Salford. Keith Mann, the city council's education spokesman, said: "There needs to be a disciplinary hearing to determine whether the contractual agreement between the employee and employer has been breached."
Coun Mann said he understood that Mrs Walker's legal representative had been in touch with the school to arrange a date for the hearing, which will be held before the managers.
Petition
Mrs Walker will be able to appeal to the school governors against any action recommended against her.
On Friday night, the mother-of-three ended her hunger strike, which she began after learning that a High Court judge had refused to grant her bail before her appeal hearing, which could take place on May 5.
On Saturday, campaigners fighting to clear Mrs Walker's name collected hundreds of signatures from shoppers in Sale, Altrincham, Warrington and Urmston for a petition.
They plan to hand it to the Home Office and the Attorney General.
Mrs Walker's family say she fired the air pistol after suffering a two-year hate campaign by local yobs who vandalised their garden, damaged their home and cars and made threatening phone calls.
The case has attracted massive publicity, and the M.E.N. has received hundreds of e-mailed messages of support for Mrs Walker since her sentence was announced.
The special needs teacher will be appealing against her conviction, in the light of fresh evidence from a local milkman, and against her sentence.
Anyone wishing to support the campaign should write to 23 Springfield Road, Manchester, M33 7XG.
Should Linda Walker keep her job? Have your say.
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This lady should be awarded a pay rise for her actions. Yes, she should certainly keep her job. Losing one's temper when faced with extreme provocation is hardly a good reason to sack a worthy teacher, and a valuable member of staff.
And no, I don't work in education, but I have very strong sympathies with what she, and many other people in this land, have had to endure because the left-wingers have not the courage to confront these vandals head on.
She broke the law, she has been jailed - simple no arguments!
Agree though that she must have been 'pushed' to do it - although that isn't an excuse to brandish firearms on our streets modern policing methods need investigating.
NO she shouldn't lose her job, the law favours kids and yobs to get away with murder, she didn't hit them with the gunshot so why should be treated badly for protecting her home and family? The whole episode stinks!
I think this woman should have a pat on her back it is about time someone tok action against yobs because the police do nothing. They dont turn up half the time so I can undersatnd why she was driven to frustation that she did what she did.She should be praised by the school and should be supported by them we can not allow yobs to rule and cause trouble for good people.
This poor woman should not lose her job. She maybe should get a caution which is the maximum these incredibly vicious and cruel children get. The law enforcement should take heed because as ordinary citizens we are all sick and tired of being literally terrified in our own homes by CHILDREN.!The words" paid vigilanties" comes to mind. What else is left for us to do???
Supposedly we don't want a "walk on by society" but yet if you do intervene on behalf of someone else or defend yourself, they throw the book at you. The liberal elite establishment punish people who act in self defence as they perceive them as a threat to their power. Britain has the worst judiciary in the world, our rich and priviliged judges are firmly on the side of criminals and thugs. The liberal elite use criminals to keep the working class people down. We see the evidence time and time again,
God talk about kick a woman when she's down she's been put in jail for something that she was pushed to do & now she may lose her job give the woman a break hey all she was doing was protecting her home & family & she's stuck behind bars where as the thugs are walking free its disgustin this goverment stinks !!!!!!
lt is one thing to lose your temper. Waving a gun about on a public street is quite another. If Linda Walker is sacked, she only has herself to blame.
I think it is terrible the way this woman has been treated by the law. While I agree that people should not be allowed to take the law into their own hands, I can understand what made her do it.
I lived on Flixton Road for a year and the kids used to terrorise the elderly lady next door, so much so that she was afraid to go out! Is this the kind of society we live in, where decent, hardworking people are driven to exteme lengths to stop teenagers vandilising and terrorising them, without any fear of punishment! Well done Linda, I hope you scared the pants off them!
Stop crying for this lady. She commited a serious crime and is being punished.
Suppose she had fired the pistol in class and scared the daylights out her pupils.
What she did was just as bad. Many of us live amongst anti social behaviour and I'd be the first to say that the police are a waste of time because if you overstep the mark the law comes down on you and the yobs just walk away.
However I think Mrs Walkers sentence should have been suspended. A person of previous good character should not have been so severely dealt with. She now has a criminal conviction and a record. I don't see how she can carry on teaching. It's a great shame that someones life can be affected for ever by this affair but that is the price you have to pay for making a stand. Still what she did cannot be excused.
oh come on!
of course she should lose her job, she shot at some children!
fair enough they were no angels, and she had been aggravated, but what happens if she gets pushed too far during a lesson in class, whats she going to do then?
what if she's having a bad day?
i do work with children and i know how difficult a job it is, but you need a lot of patience and can not have a short fuse...think a career change is in order for her!
Why should she lose her job because she faced up to these yobs? She shouldn't be in prison, she should instead be backed up by the police, who seem to do absolutely nothing, What are we paying them for?
Those kids should be punished NOT HER! They are the evil ones and when the law supports thugs and hooligan kids and not victims, you wonder why....
Have all Brits gone mad? This woman should be given a medal for defending her property rights! Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot, in your country no one has any property rights! You live in a world where right is wrong and wrong is right. Alice would agree that the British reality is more bizarre than Wonderland!
Please let good people have the right to defend themselves and their property.
I feel sorry for the law-abiding citizens of the UK. It appears that the voting majority have been crossed with sheep.
The comments supporting the poor lady's termination from her job are laughable. "Could have..., might have..., might..." are speculation and not facts in determining any guilt.
Were I a criminal, I'd be on the first plane to the UK. Talk about easy pickings! Thank goodness the gutless are not in the voting majority over here. Perhaps we should arrange a trade -- we'll take Linda and anyone like her, you can have Kerry and all the Democrats you can fit.
Why would a teacher be jailed after three weeks for firing into a group of youths? It just doesn't make sense. Maybe after three weeks, she could have got a plane to Hawaii. Who knows?
Yes, Linda Walker does have rights to defend her property, but she doesn't have the right to fire at a group of youths. She could have easily picked up her phone and called the police, instead of acting violently.
Police action against problem youths and gangs is often feebly inadequate when it comes to dealing with problem youngsters, so I doubt a phone call would have made much difference really.
If you think it is absolutely abhorrant that a previously good-natured person is first driven to extreme by months and months of terrorism AND THEN sent to prison for standing up to the terrorists whilst the terrorists escape completely unpunished then today, May 5th is the day to make your views felt at the Polling station.