GUN-CASE teacher Linda Walker has lost her job.
After a four-hour disciplinary hearing it was decided her contract at New Park High School, in Eccles, should end.
Mrs Walker, above, was freed on appeal earlier this month after spending 36 days in prison for firing an air pistol near youths she claimed were harassing her family.
Last night, head teacher Almut Bever-Warren and Salford education authority met to decide on Mrs Walker's future.
After the hearing, Salford education spokesman Coun Keith Mann said: "It would not be right and would give the wrong message should teachers with such convictions be permitted to carry on in these circumstances."
Mrs Walker would not comment after she left the hearing but her union representative said she intended to appeal.
Coun Mann said: ``Mrs Walker has been dismissed from her post as a teacher. The issue was and is - could Mrs Walker continue in her post as a special needs teacher in the light of her conviction for a serious firearms offence?
"Clearly the school and the council have to have, as their first consideration, the safety of children in their care.
"It would not be right and would give the wrong message should teachers with such convictions be permitted to carry on in these circumstances, particularly in the light of incidents in recent years which have necessitated increased security in schools.
Application
"I have no doubt that Mrs Walker felt under considerable pressure at the time of her offence and her reaction is understandable but not acceptable in a country which prides itself on the rule of law and its consistent application.''
Mrs Walker's union representative Cliff Anderson, from the NASUWT, said:
"With the support of the NASUWT she intends to appeal.
"In the interests of ensuring the appeal is not prejudiced, Mrs Walker and the NASUWT will be making no further comment." Mrs Walker now faces an investigation by the Department of Education and Skills which will decide whether her conviction classes her as a potential danger to children.
Even if they take no action, the case will be referred to the General Teaching Council which will decide whether the convictions breach their code of conduct.
The 48-year-old teacher was arrested after an incident outside her home in Urmston in August last year.
She fired a gas-powered pistol at the ground near the foot of Robert McKiernan. The Walker family claim McKiernan and other youths were involved in a long-running campaign against them, a claim which he denies.
The Court of Appeal quashed the mother-of-three's three-month jail sentence and replaced it with a 12-month suspended term.
But she was refused permission to challenge her convictions for affray and possessing a firearm with intent to cause violence.
Should Linda Walker have been sacked? Have your say.
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Andy, Manchester (17/05/2005 at 08:31)
mhb, manchester (17/05/2005 at 09:09)
i sincerely hope that linda gets her job back, she needs this to gain her self respect back.
i do hope her mp backs her in this dispute otherwise she will give out the same message that the yobs have won. dont worry linda - the good people of manchester are standing by you.
Dennis Parry, Brecon (17/05/2005 at 09:15)
Brian Neill, Belfast (17/05/2005 at 09:15)
One up for the yobs ! So much for Mr Blair's crusade to bring back respect for others.
Joey, Ashton under Lyne (17/05/2005 at 09:30)
possession of a fire arm in a front-line job so close to the event, perhaps by offering Linda a job which did not bring her into contact with children would have shown that the "council" could not condone what had happened but had sympathy with her plight.
Hazel, Cheshire (17/05/2005 at 09:35)
Can you see the difference, Mr Mann? No? Then it's you who is in the wrong job...
BigK, Stockport (17/05/2005 at 10:05)
Joe, Salford (17/05/2005 at 10:25)
Mrs V Angry, Manchester (17/05/2005 at 10:57)
Joy wolfe, Cheadle Cheshire (17/05/2005 at 11:12)
words.
She was wrongly convicted in my opinion for protecting herself and her human rights to a decent standard of family life free from harassment.
For the to lose her job on top of having to spend time in prison is beyond belief.
I hope she wins her appeal and that she also can claim wrongful dismissal.
AA, Manchester (17/05/2005 at 11:15)
BigK, Stockport (17/05/2005 at 12:09)
To Mrs V Angry - Not only right to jail her but should have been maximum, served to full term. Reminder, its supposed to be 5 years for a firearm (loaded or not Joe)
To Joy Wolfe - She is obviously a threat to pupils. She was protecting herself against nobody. Remember, she went a couple of hundred yards up the road to confront the youths.
To AA - Let me know if she gets another job and, if my children are at her school I'll withdraw them.
To all - by all means lock up the miscreants, useless articles that they are but TWO WRONGS DO NOT MAKE A RIGHT !
pedr, cardiff (17/05/2005 at 12:25)
We can therefore flip the coin and assume that the "right message" was sent to the thickos.
There are bigger pictures, Salford, and you've hardly enhanced your already dodgy reputation as a place to live and invest in.
Clare, Manchester (17/05/2005 at 12:25)
Joe, Salford. (17/05/2005 at 12:47)
What would you have done?
Locked the door like a big wuss and called the police again, knowing it would do no good? Or would you have gone out and had it out with the little sods? Remember, you're a woman and there are three of them...
And when you lose your job (despite a 25-year spotless record) and you can't pay the mortgage...? Ask yourself, is this woman ever going to take her gun to school? She never has in 25 years.
You'd be seething as you looked out of your window, seeing those cocky young thugs sneering as they walked by? Wouldn't you? You've lost your job of 25 years because you couldn't stand the rubbish any longer, and you made a stand?
Ask yourself.
BigK, Stockport (17/05/2005 at 13:42)
She is just as much a criminal as those who tormented her.
If you really want to stand up for criminals like her, then sympathise with the thugs as well. It's only fair !
If however you want long stiff sentences for criminals then call for stiffer sentences for gun toters. It's only fair !
Two wrongs do not make a right - got it?
Graham, Manchester (17/05/2005 at 16:14)
I agree with another contributor that most employers would not employ someone convicted of a firearms offence . I think too much significance has been made of Mrs Walkers job.
Surely teaching must be a prime example of upholding the law.
Most contracts of employment state that convictions received during employment must be declared and will inevitably lead to dismissal.
Whilst the yobs and scumbags of the world do get away with "murder" surely it follows that law abiding citizens continue to be so, and don't take matters into their own hands no matter what the provocation.
Graham, Manchester (17/05/2005 at 18:50)
Could you imagine the uproar if a convicted person such as Mrs Walker "lost it" in the classroom with an unruly pupil and hit them in the eye with a piece of chalk?
It's all very well saying what she did was out of character but you have to draw the line somewhere. The circumstances surrounding her offence are irrelavant.
What counts is that she has shown herself as being prepared to overstep the mark.
John Day, London (17/05/2005 at 21:52)
Kay, Manchester (18/05/2005 at 13:50)
David, New Jersey (18/05/2005 at 18:07)
Don Loftus, Gainesville, Florida, USA (18/05/2005 at 18:37)
She should be diciplined, perhaps a fine, but she should not loose her job. She does not pose a danger in the classroom and I'm sure she will never do this again.
J. Dunlap, Yucaipa, California, USA (18/05/2005 at 19:56)
I must admit that the British people are far more tolerant of bureaucratic abuse than I would have thought, but even you must have a breaking point. The day you finally reach it will be a good day for British politicians to be somewhere else.