Poisoned teacher in damages claim

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/london/8023291.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A teacher is suing her education authority for £700,000 after claiming her career was wrecked when a schoolgirl poisoned her drinking water.

Shaaira Alexis, 52, drank blackboard cleaning fluid from her water bottle.

A judge heard the psychiatric impact ruined her chances of promotion to department head, or higher, at Brampton Manor School in Newham, east London.

She later lost her job in August 2006 due to her sickness record. Newham Council has denied negligence.

The council also maintained the value of her claim was too high because it was "inherently unlikely" she would have reached a high level in the teaching profession.

Ms Alexis's counsel, William McCormick, said while the physical effects of the "poisoning" were relatively short-lived, the psychiatric impact ruined her prospects of promotion to head teacher or at least a departmental head.

He said the traumatic consequences of the prank played by the schoolgirl, who had been entrusted with the classroom keys by another teacher, "remain with her to this day".

Brampton Manor, a multi-cultural comprehensive school, has 1,450 pupils.