An employment tribunal hearing brought by a sacked Christian teacher has collapsed after “prejudiced” comments were made by a panel member online.
The unnamed teacher brought the case against a primary school and Nottinghamshire County Council after she was dismissed for opposing the local transgender policy.
She was suspended for refusing to “affirm” an eight-year-old girl who wanted to be treated as a boy.
The teacher was later sacked for gross misconduct after looking up the child on the school’s safeguarding database and sharing the information with her lawyers.
A teacher was suspended for refusing to ‘affirm’ to a pupil’s gender identity
GETTY
However, the case has collapsed after panel member Jed Purkis demonstrated a “significant prejudice against Christians”.
The former GMB union officer has also expressed anti-Tory views, describing Conservative Party supporters as a “tumour”.
The unnamed teacher described herself as a “Bible-believing Christian” and stressed her faith informed her belief on sex being an “immutable biological fact”.
She also expressed concern about “social transition” resulting in “irreversible harm” being caused to a young person.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
The case was being heard by panel members for six days.
However, all three members, including judge Victoria Butler, recused themselves late on Monday after Purkis’ comments were discovered.
The hearing will be rescheduled for later in the year.
Responding to a comment suggesting only atheists should be in public office, Purkis wrote: “Damn right, you won’t catch us killing in the name of our non-God.”
Purkis also said: “If they are so f*****g super how comes there is so much shit going on in the world.”
He separately asked “what’s a good collective noun for Tories?”, adding “a tumour of Tories” and a “cess pit of Tories”.
Representing the teacher, Pavel Stroilov argued Purkis “appears to agree with a view which expressly advocates for religious discrimination in public life”.
The teacher said it was a delay in receiving justice “but I have to have a fair trial”.
Source Agencies
