A teacher was caught having a sexual affair with an 18-year-old pupil when his partner found more than 800 emails, including naked pictures of the teenager, on their shared computer.
Ross Spittal, a former teacher from Inveralmond Community High School in West Lothian, had sex with the teenager at his home on at least two occasions, a tribunal was told.
The 31-year-old maths teacher, from Bishopton, Renfrewshire, began a romantic relationship with the pupil, believed to be 18 at the time, in 2019, a panel heard.
The affair was discovered when his then girlfriend, Kim Smyth, found more than 800 emails between the pair on the couple’s shared computer.
At a hearing in front of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) today, Ms Smyth, 32, revealed she found the messages on the pupil-teacher portal, Glow, when Spittal had been looking at his phone while they were drinking together at their home.
She told the hearing that on the day she discovered the emails, Spittal and the teenager were planning to meet up.
When she called Spittal to confront him about the emails she said she was 'literally seeing naked photos' of the pupil as she was speaking to him.
One of the emails sent by Spittal said: 'Kim is at work, you can come over', Ms Smyth said.
Ross Spittal, a former teacher from Inveralmond Community High School in West Lothian, admitted having a relationship with an 18-year-old student but believes he should still be allowed to teach
Spittal, brother of Scottish Premier League Ross County footballer Blair Spittal, admitted the relationship but said he believes he should still be allowed to teach.
Referring to the former schoolgirl, Ms Smyth told the hearing: '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.'
A former self employed personal trainer, Ms Smyth said she was once invited to Inveralmond Community High School to give the pupils a talk on being self employed.
Speaking of the visit, she said: 'I came face to face with Pupil A when she was brought round in a group by Ross.
'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.”
Ms Smyth said she saw Spittal was searching for the pupil on Facebook and looking for nice messages about him after 'feeling low about teaching'.
She said Spittal messaged the teenager
