A West Lothian teacher has admitted a sexual relationship with a sixth-year pupil, but insists he remains fit to teach amid a professional hearing over his conduct.
Ross Spittal, a former teacher from Inveralmond Community High School, had sex with the pupil at his home on at least two occasions.
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The 31-year-old maths teacher, from Bishopton, Renfrewshire, began a romantic relationship with the teenager, believed to be 18 at the time, in 2019.
The relationship was outed when Ross' girlfriend at the time, Kim Smyth, found over 800 emails between the pair on the couple's shared computer.
At a hearing in front of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) on Monday, Smyth, 32, revealed that she found the messages on pupil teacher portal, Glow.
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Smyth was tearful as she recounted the moment she found out about the affair and discovered naked images of the schoolgirl that were sent to Spittal.
Spittal, brother of Ross County footballer Blair Spittal, admitted the relationship but said he believes he should still be allowed to teach.
Referring to the former schoolgirl, Smyth said: “I was aware of Pupil A for years.
“It was a running joke in the school that she fancied Ross.
“It was surprising for pupils to have a crush on him, but I didn’t think he would act on it.
“I saw that he was searching for Pupil A on Facebook.
“He said he was feeling low about teaching and he was looking for nice messages pupils wrote about him on Facebook.
“He was messaging the pupil using Glow at late times. The chat and banter you’d expect with a friend.
“We were friendly with a lot of Ross’s colleagues.
“We would go on nights out and we went to some of their weddings. They would tell me he was well liked by pupils, especially Pupil A, but he always brushed it off.
When asked about what she meant by Spittal 'laughing off' or 'brushing off that pupil A "fancied" him, she said: "It was always that she was a little girl.
"It was laughed off because you never thought a line would be crossed."
Smyth, a former self employed personal trainer went to the school to give pupils a talk on self-employment at the request of one of Spittal's colleagues.
"I came face to face with Pupil A when she was brought round in a group by Ross," she recalled.
"When I asked if anyone had any questions Ms A raised her hand and said 'is this the other woman?'
"I thought that was very confident. That must have been a year or so before everything came out."
Smyth added: "One Saturday night at about 2am, me and Ross were sitting in drinking and he kept looking at his phone.
“He was messaging Pupil A on Glow.
“I thought it was extremely odd behaviour.
“The day I came across the emails on our laptop, a message popped up at the bottom of the screen, she was emailing him.
“When I opened the conversation it was happening there and then, they were planning on meeting up.
"On May 22, 2019 I discussed a number of emails between him and Pupil A.
“I found 800 emails between the two dating back to early 2019.
“There were naked pictures of Pupil A.
“I was literally seeing naked photos of her as I was speaking to him on the phone.
"He asked me not to tell the police or the school.”
Smyth told the council one email read: “Kim is at work, you can come over.”
On not phoning the police, she said: “It’s something I regret now. I was in complete shock and I was heartbroken.
“It was in his hands to say what he had done.”
Police Scotland found that no criminality had occurred after the relationship was later reported to them.
Being questioned about the day she found the emails on their laptop, Smyth said: "In the morning it happened, I just tried to snip it before Ross deleted them.
"I sent over the inappropriate pictures to the Police.
"There was an extremely high amount of sexual content in the emails.
"I believe these were at the start of May."
At the time, Smyth had been in a relationship with Spittal for five years and the couple had been living together for three.
Spittal's legal rep Claire Raftery said her client admits all allegations brought to him by the GTCS.
He admitted kissing the sixth year pupil after an Easter school session in April 2019.
He also had sexual relations with the same girl at his home in April 2019.
In May 2019, Spittal told the school's head teacher, Susanne Young, that there was “nothing going on at all” between himself and the pupil.
Young, 50, recalled Pupil A submitted a yearbook entry detailing how she wanted to teach maths at Inveralmond "so she could be next to Mr Spittal every day."
She added concerns were raised about Pupil A supporting Spittal's maths class, and although nothing was found to be untoward, she felt it appropriate to discuss "professional boundaries" with that teacher.
Young added Spittal "shook" after coming clean about their relationship, adding: "He said that nothing had happened whilst she was in school.
"It was a surprising and difficult conversation.
"He told me that he kissed her on 10th April 2019 after an Easter school session, but could not remember who initiated it.
"He said that they had had sex twice."
Describing a meeting with Pupil A's mother, she said: "Pupil A's mum thought that whilst he may have made a mistake, it shouldn't impact him getting a job.
She also stated: "I was not aware of the standing joke (that pupil A 'fancied' Spittal) and if I was, it would have been thoroughly investigated."
She spoke about why she did not take anything further after looking into the relationship: "I had to take my teacher's word for it.
"There was no evidence of anything other than Pupil A liking him and/or admiring him."
It is believed that Spittal is still in a relationship with the former pupil.
The GTCS investigation will determine whether Spittal should remain on the teaching register and be allowed back in the classroom.
The hearing continues.
