The school | Lucky Boy Ep3

Summary

Lucky Boy Episode 3: The School - Detailed Summary

Introduction

In the third episode of Lucky Boy, titled "The School," Chloe Hadjimatheou delves deeper into the harrowing aftermath of Gareth's relationship with his former teacher, Sally Ann Bowen, during his teenage years. This episode explores the institutional response of Christ College School, the societal norms of the 1980s, and Gareth's relentless pursuit of justice decades later.

Background

Gareth’s life has been overshadowed by a relationship that began when he was just 14 years old with Sally Ann Bowen, a 27-year-old teacher at Christ College. This relationship, which Gareth believed was consensual and special, ultimately led to significant personal turmoil and estrangement from his family and peers.

The Institutional Response: Act One

Chloe introduces the story by breaking it into two distinct acts. The first act focuses on the alleged events of the late 1980s and how Christ College School handled the situation:

• Secret Handling of the Affair: According to Chloe, the school asked Sally Ann Bowen to quietly leave, hoping that suppressing the issue would allow everyone involved to move on. However, Gareth was left to grapple with the aftermath on his own.

  Chloe Hadjimatheou [04:01]: "The early 80s was a time before children's rights were properly fleshed out. And that meant that some very dark movements were able to get a foothold in the public conversation."

• Cultural Context of the 1980s: The episode highlights how societal attitudes toward children's rights and sexual abuse were markedly different during that era. Organizations like the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) were actively campaigning to lower the age of consent, reflecting the problematic norms of the time.

  Chloe Hadjimatheou [05:01]: "PI managed to get coverage on Newsnight, on the BBC, arguing that paedophiles had been unfairly demonized."

Interviews and Perspectives

The episode features interviews with key individuals who provide insight into the events and their long-term impacts:

• Emily (Gareth’s Sister): Emily offers a personal perspective on Gareth's struggle and the familial fallout resulting from his relationship with Ms. Bowen.

  Emily [08:16]: "I have to swallow that on my own kind of thing. Right."

• Philippa (Gareth’s Mother): Philippa discusses her attempts to intervene by sending Gareth to live with Emily when the relationship began to deteriorate.

  Philippa [08:54]: "I didn't have a relationship with my mother at all, which is why I knew when she called me out of the blue, it was like, okay, something."

• Des Tinch (Head of Year): Des provides an account of his interactions with Ms. Bowen and the school's internal handling of the situation. He portrays Ms. Bowen as a rebellious figure who overstepped professional boundaries.

  Des Tinch [38:05]: "One day I was in the staff room and she was at the other end and she suddenly called across the room and I realized she was trying to get my attention."

Challenges in the Investigation

Decades later, Gareth decides to seek justice by contacting the police. However, the investigation faces significant obstacles:

• Lack of Evidence: Without willing witnesses, the police find it challenging to build a case against Ms. Bowen. Commonly, former teachers deny knowledge of the affair, making it difficult for Gareth to prove his claims.

  Chloe Hadjimatheou [25:13]: "Each time they get hold of someone, they call Gareth to update him."

• Institutional Cover-Up: Chloe explores the possibility of a coordinated effort by the school staff to protect their reputations, leading to a prolonged cover-up that allowed Ms. Bowen to continue teaching for 35 years across various schools.

  Chloe Hadjimatheou [30:00]: "Holding back the truth has allowed Sally Ann Bowen to continue teaching for 35 years."

Impact on Gareth

The long-term psychological effects on Gareth are profound:

• Mental Health Struggles: Gareth's inability to move past the relationship leads to anxiety, paranoia, and a breakdown in his relationship with his mother. His sister, Emily, notes the significant impact this has had on his ability to lead a normal life.

  Emily [19:32]: "That's where self harm comes from as well. I was putting out cigarettes on my hands from when I was 16. I was cutting myself."

• Delayed Pursuit of Justice: It takes Gareth until his early 40s to muster the courage to confront Ms. Bowen officially, highlighting the often long and painful journey victims of such abuse endure before seeking justice.

  Chloe Hadjimatheou [20:46]: "He knows the relationship knocked his life off course, but at the same time, he still clings to the idea that what he and Ms. Bowen had was something special."

Police Investigation and Resistance

Gareth's call to the police marks the beginning of the second act of his story:

• Unresponsive Authorities: Despite Gareth's detailed accounts and effort to provide evidence, the lack of corroborating testimonies leads to the Crown Prosecution Service deciding not to pursue the case.

  Chloe Hadjimatheo [26:58]: "None of them are prepared to say, I saw Gareth with her, or I saw, you know, I knew this stuff was going on."

• Ms. Bowen’s Continued Career: Sally Ann Bowen remains active in the education sector, moving between schools, which raises questions about the effectiveness of institutional responses to such allegations.

  Chloe Hadjimatheo [34:28]: "She's head of science at a secondary school just 30 minutes drive from Christ College."

Des Tinch’s Correspondence

A significant development occurs when Des Tinch responds to Chloe’s inquiries:

• Official Denial: Des Tinch writes a defensive letter denying any knowledge of the affair and refusing further contact, indicating a lack of accountability from the school's administration.

  Des Tinch [33:34]: "If there was an internal investigation, then it was private and I was not privy to it."

• Further Investigation: Despite Des’s denial, Chloe uncovers more concerning behaviors and subtle admissions from other staff members, suggesting that the school might have known more about Ms. Bowen's misconduct than they admitted.

  Chloe Hadjimatheo [40:01]: "There were members of staff who were concerned and I know there were some women in the English department who would have been unhappy with what Ms. Bowen was doing."

Uncovering More Evidence

Chloe's relentless investigation reveals additional troubling aspects:

• Hidden Conversations: Interviews hint that some teachers were aware of the inappropriate behaviors but chose not to act, either out of fear, indifference, or a desire to protect their own positions.

  Chloe Hadjimatheo [41:04]: "Teachers have put their own reputations and the school's before anything else. And holding back the truth has allowed Sally Ann Bowen to continue teaching for 35 years."

• Ms. Bowen’s Pattern of Behavior: Sally Ann Bowen's movement between schools without reoccurrences of similar incidents suggests a systemic issue within educational institutions regarding the handling of such abuse cases.

Conclusion

The episode concludes with Chloe highlighting the unresolved nature of the case and setting the stage for future episodes. Despite extensive investigations, the lack of concrete evidence and cooperative witnesses hampers the pursuit of justice for Gareth. The systemic failures of Christ College School and the broader implications for institutional accountability remain central themes.

Notable Quotes

1. Chloe Hadjimatheou [04:01]

   "The early 80s was a time before children's rights were properly fleshed out. And that meant that some very dark movements were able to get a foothold in the public conversation."

2. Emily [08:16]

   "I have to swallow that on my own kind of thing. Right."

3. Des Tinch [38:05]

   "One day I was in the staff room and she was at the other end and she suddenly called across the room and I realized she was trying to get my attention."

4. Chloe Hadjimatheou [25:13]

   "Each time they get hold of someone, they call Gareth to update him."

5. Chloe Hadjimatheou [30:00]

   "Holding back the truth has allowed Sally Ann Bowen to continue teaching for 35 years."

6. Emily [19:32]

   "That's where self harm comes from as well. I was putting out cigarettes on my hands from when I was 16. I was cutting myself."

7. Chloe Hadjimatheou [20:46]

   "He knows the relationship knocked his life off course, but at the same time, he still clings to the idea that what he and Ms. Bowen had was something special."

8. Des Tinch [33:34]

   "If there was an internal investigation, then it was private and I was not privy to it."

Final Thoughts

"The School" episode of Lucky Boy sheds light on the deep-seated issues within educational institutions regarding the handling of sexual abuse cases. Through personal accounts and investigative journalism, Chloe Hadjimatheou uncovers the layers of denial, cover-ups, and the long-lasting impact on victims like Gareth. As the series progresses, listeners can anticipate further revelations and a continued quest for accountability and truth.

Transcript

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Hello, I'm Chloe Hegemotheo. I'm a narrative editor at the observer and the host of the Tortoise Investigates podcast. Lucky boy. I'm popping up here to say thank you all for continuing to listen and to support Tortoise Investigates from the observer. If you like what you've heard already. The good news is there are more observer podcasts that you may not know about yet. There's the news meeting, where Tortoise journalists and special guests battle it out to see whose story will lead the news the Sense Maker, one story every weekday to make sense of the world and the Sloan Newscast, a weekly investigation into a story we think you should know about. We're proud to bring you our journalism in audio, so make sure you follow all our shows so you don't miss a single Observer Podcast episode.

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[Tortoise]

Tortoise.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Just a warning before we start this Episode includes descriptions of sexual abuse, strong language and references to suicide. Last time on Lucky Boy.

[Gareth]

I spoke to this girl several times and they didn't even tell me anything.

[Emily]

She was just like, they know, they know. And I was like, what do you mean they know? How do they know? Like, what do they know?

[Philippa]

I have no interest in a witch.

[Gary]

Hunt on a teacher about something.

[Emily]

So, yes, I'd say that was confirmation, if ever there was confirmation from the.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

School, schools covering it up, I think it's maybe because they think it's not a big deal.

[Des Tinch]

So how can a child of 12 make a mature judgment about something like sex for the first time, which it has not the first idea about and cannot possibly weigh the consequences of?

[Philippa]

A child is able to recognize a pleasurable experience. He's able to recognize a pleasing emotional experience. He is able to express consent.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

There's a way I'm beginning to look at this story that separates it into two acts. There's act one, what's alleged to have happened in the late 1980s between. Between Gareth and Ms. Bowen, how it was handled by individual teachers and the school as an institution that Christ College, it seems, had asked Sally Ann Bowen to quietly move on before the school and everyone left in it moved on too. The fact that Gareth wasn't able to was left as his problem. That's the first act. And for this part of the story, I'm open to what some of the former pupils have been telling me, that it was a different era with different ideas and moral standards.

[Philippa]

Because children are.

[Des Tinch]

One part of the whole Society.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

The early 80s was a time before children's rights were properly fleshed out. And that meant that some very dark movements were able to get a foothold in the public conversation.

[Philippa]

Nor is a pedophile. Pedophiles do not exploit children.

[Des Tinch]

Childs are using the child's sexuality.

[Philippa]

No, pedophiles do not use a child's sexuality. Pedophiles develop a mutual sexuality with the child. It's an entirely reciprocal relationship.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

A good example, the Paedophile Information Exchange, or PIE as it was known. It was a campaign group pushing for the age of consent to be lowered to four years old. PI managed to get coverage on Newsnight, on the BBC, arguing that paedophiles had been on unfairly demonized.

[Philippa]

Our political objectives include developing a society where children are given a much higher status than today, where they are recognized as individuals in their own right. And this includes recognizing their right to certain sexual freedoms whilst protecting them.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

When I found this interview and realized it was on the TV just a few years before Gareth's relationship with Ms. Bowen. I was shocked. It made me realise how far our boundaries have shifted since the 1980s. The idea that a paedophile rights activist would be given a platform like this today was just unthinkable. So in some ways, Gareth was a casualty of the era he was born into. Today, our attitudes towards sexual abuse victims and perpetrators are very different, or at least we think they are. This is when we come to the second act. What's been happening in the last few years since Gareth started his journey towards justice? The question I'm asking now is could it be that Gareth is still a casualty of that time? Because what he suspects is that most teachers didn't speak up back then and that they're still keeping the truth hidden today. Most teachers, but not everyone. I'm Chloe Hajimothay and from Tortoise. This is Lucky Boy, Episode three, the School.

[Tortoise]

He was a very cute looking child and he knew it. And therefore, as a result, he was quite spoiled and used to getting his own way. But he could be a little monster as well.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Emily's Gareth's older sister. Like Gareth, she's smart and observant, but she's also successful. She has a good life, a job she loves and she's a mum to great kids. Talking to her is a bit like catching a glimpse of what Gareth's life could have been. His mental health issues mean Gareth can't work. And so this investigation and his obsession with proving what really happened pretty much fills his days.

[Tortoise]

I think what it's done is fossilized him emotionally and not to have been able to move past it with therapy or whatever it is, that's a terrible damage to have happened to somebody.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

But I've called Emily to ask her about something specific. The last few weeks of the relationship between her brother and Sally Ann Bowen, just before it all fell apart. Emily wasn't living at home then. She didn't really get on with her mum, Philippa. So after she left to go to uni, she never went back.

[Tortoise]

I didn't have a relationship with my mother at all, which is why I knew when she called me out of the blue, it was like, okay, something.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Must be up when that call comes. In the summer of 1988, Emily's in Manchester living with friends and she doesn't have a clue what's been going on with Gareth and his teacher. Were you shocked? Were you shocked when she. When she told you?

[Tortoise]

Absolutely. When I heard it, it was just like, wow, what kind of school Is it? And why is it not being stopped?

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Philippa tells her that Christ College School has taken action. That Ms. Bowen has been asked to leave and won't teach again. But the problem hasn't gone away. Because what she suspects is that the long, empty summer holidays present lots of free time for Gareth and Ms. Bowen to meet and have sex. So in a moment of desperation, she calls her estranged daughter Emily.

[Tortoise]

Really, it was like, you know, in extremis. You do something to help, don't you?

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

There's no particular plan. Just the idea that a bit of space away from London might be enough to break the pair up. So they send Gareth to stay with his sister in Manchester. When Emily collects her brother from the coach station, she tries probing him, but he won't admit anything. And then, only days into his stay, one of Emily's flatmates tells her some strange lady's been calling on the phone for her brother. She knows it must be Ms. Bowen.

[Tortoise]

I mean, you know, this woman was only a couple of years older than me. And the thought that somebody who's a couple of years older than me. Was kind of fancying my baby brother. And sleeping with my baby brother was quite repellent to me.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

So that weekend, Emily waits for the phone to ring. And before her brother can get to it, she picks up.

[Tortoise]

She asked to speak to my brother, and I went, oh, okay. Well, you're speaking to his sister, and I know who you are. And I basically told her where to go. And I think I said something about leave my little brother alone. And that was it.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

There are so many things I wish Emily had asked her. Like why did she think it was okay to have sex with a child? And why was she still contacting him. Even after it seemed to have cost her her job? But in that moment, Emily's too angry to think rationally. She says her piece and then hangs up without waiting for a response.

[Tortoise]

And it was kind of the brazenness of it, really, of assuming that I wouldn't recognize the name. Which, now I think about it, was extraordinarily stupid, really, wasn't it? Or was it just so brazen?

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around who Ms. Bowen is. On one level, it seems she knows that having sex with a child is illegal and wrong. Or at least socially unacceptable. Because Gareth says she keeps warning him to be careful and not tell anyone. But then she acts like they're an ordinary couple. Taking him to pubs and openly ringing him for chats when they're apart. In any case, the Manchester Plan hasn't worked. Gareth packs his bag and heads back to London, where his mum, Philippa, tries one last tactic.

[Gareth]

I had a route around and I found the phone number. And I rang up and I asked to speak to her. And I said to him, her that the whole thing had to stop and that it was ridiculous. And she said, oh, nothing's been going on. Nothing's been going on. And I said, okay. I said, I'll speak to the police about it. And then she never said another word to me and put the phone down. That was it.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

She may have threatened to go to the police, but actually, with both Gareth and his teacher denying it all, Philippa doesn't feel she's got enough evidence. But it's possible that just the threat has an effect. Because at some point, not long after, Ms. Bowen decides to end the relationship. How did she tell you?

[Emily]

She told me she was going to kibbutz. Kibbutz in Israel.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

So she didn't say we have to stop because this is wrong or the school's found out.

[Emily]

She was also. She told me when the school found.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Out, but when she ended it, she said, I'm ending it because I'm going to a kibbutz in Israel and I don't know when I'll be back.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

They have sex one last time. And then Ms. Bowen closes the door on her 15 year old lover. How did you feel? Were you devastated?

[Emily]

Yeah, obviously. But also at the same time being devastated, not being able to. Why? It never happened. Right. What's there to be devastated about? There's a reality for me, like I had to swallow that on my own kind of thing. Right.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

That's when he really starts to unravel because he may be physically equipped to have sex, but he definitely isn't equipped to deal with the emotional fallout. The next time he'll see Ms. Bowen will be 35 years later, when he's a man of 50 and she's in her mid-60s. But this time they won't be alone. Just days after Ms. Bowen tells him she's going away, Gareth's back at school. A new term started at Christ College. This thing that he had that was so special and all consuming, it's over. He's angry and hurt. And to make matters worse, Ms. Bowen may be gone, but the rumors are still there.

[Emily]

I got in fights because boys called her a slag in front of me. Like, because I would think they're fucking. They were trying to get at me.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

I heard about this one fight that happened outside school. I hadn't really realised how bad it was until I asked Gareth about it.

[Emily]

And then.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Where did the fight happen?

[Emily]

In Edgware Tube station. Off the tube. You know where to buy the tickets.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

By this time, we're talking on the phone almost every day. What it took me a while to realise is that Gareth records every single call he makes. He's pretty paranoid and so he wants a meticulous record of what everyone said to him. I don't know if he's always been like that, but I suspect it's the result of all the gaslighting he feels he's been through. When he eventually confesses to me that he's been recording all our calls, he thinks I'll be upset. But I'm making a podcast, so I'm actually pretty delighted, and I make him send me all the files. This particular day, I've called him to ask about that awful fight and I've got in my notes that he spoke to you about Bowen.

[Emily]

I think someone was discussing Bowie. Oh, Bowen's just a slag. Was just a slag. But, yeah, he used to piss me off if someone said that in front of me about Bowen.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

And he was quite badly hurt.

[Emily]

Yeah, I believe so. Not my proudest moment.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

And, like, what? You really hurt him?

[Emily]

Yeah, I think I split his skull open.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Oh, fucking hell.

[Emily]

Yeah, I think I actually stamped on his head Chloe, if you really want to know the truth. It sounded like a shotgun going off. Like I said, not my proudest moment.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Gareth's out of control. Still, he says the school never tries to find out what's going on with him. None of the teachers ever mention Ms. Bowen to him again. Just before Christmas, the school calls his parents in to say if they don't remove Gareth voluntarily, then the school will expel him. They quietly got rid of Ms. Bowen. Now they've quietly got rid of her alleged victim too. The Gareth I've come to know over the last year is a highly perceptive and intelligent man. But he's also someone with anxieties and paranoia. I can see that. But what I couldn't initially put my finger on was how exactly his relationship with an adult woman had led to the problems he has today.

[Emily]

Well, obviously it had an effect on me. I mean, we all know that. We all know that. A young boy at 14 years old having sex with a 27 year old teacher, that's going to have a certain effect on him.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Ms. Bowen normalized her desires before Gareth could even begin to explore and understand his own. And he says some of her desires were quite kinky. But Gareth wouldn't have known that. He had nothing to compare it to. So then when it came to girls his own age, his expectations would often be frightening for them.

[Emily]

You know, I went for the ones that would develop sexually, you know, I didn't go for nice girls after that because nice girls weren't where I was at. Like, even today, I have a huge problem with sex. Yeah, Sex isn't an emotional thing to me. I don't engage my fucking emotions. Sex is a physical act to me then that's not right. But when you introduce the sex the way I was introduced to sex, that you're the sexual act isn't some kind of secret that's held in a little box where your emotions must stop now because we can't express anything outside this room.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

By the time he's 16, Gareth's relationship with his mum has broken down completely. All the lies have poisoned things between them and she asks him to leave home. At this point, Gareth's in a really bad way.

[Emily]

That's where self harm comes from as well. I was putting out cigarettes on my hands from when I was 16. I was cutting myself. And it led up to like three suicide attempts by the book before I was 23. But I still have the urges.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

I've spoken to a lawyer. He and his firm have represented thousands of sexual abuse survivors in legal cases against all sorts of institutions. He's even worked with victims of Jimmy Savile. And he tells me the average age for his clients to come forward, particularly male clients, is between 35 and 50 years old. It often takes more than a quarter of a century before they're ready to face what happened to them when his moment comes. Gareth's in his early 40s. Bang. On average, he's spent decades holding his secret. He's never admitted it to his mum, though he has confided in a couple of girlfriends and then his wife for years. It has actually been a point of pride that his first relationship was with a much older teacher at school.

[Emily]

In my mind for many years, that wasn't really her fault. In fact, I probably took blame for it because I walked her home. I pursued her, if you like. I didn't have to walk her home. Must have been my fault. And I still do that today. I still automatic.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

But things shift. He meets and marries his current partner, someone who's been his rock over the years, and he adopts her two children when they're still quite young. Fatherhood's something he enjoys and is good at, and it's also something that changes his perceptions.

[Emily]

My son became 14, and I could still see his little dimples and his stupid face. All he wanted to do, go and get home, play Xbox with me. Like that hit me hard. I remember thinking, actually, this woman wasn't your girlfriend, mate. She was sick. Because what kind of woman's interested in this boy here? But when I found out that she was teaching, I think I found her on a website for a school. Now, when I found that out. Oh, no. That's when I got pissy.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

The assurance Gareth's mum says the school gave her back in 1988, that Sally Ann Bowen wouldn't teach again. It wasn't true. It's taken Gareth a quarter of a century to realize.

[Emily]

You got to remember, up until that point, I still felt guilty that someone who had gone to university, trained as a teacher, had lost their job forever. That's what I was told. That's what I believed. Up until 2014. Right up until then, There isn't one.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Event that tips the scales for him. It's more a slow drip of new information seen through the shifting lens of a more experienced older man. But the day finally arrives when Gareth's ready to do what his mum wanted to do all those years ago. He picks up the phone and calls the police. This is when Gareth's story reaches its second act. Did you think she might deny it? Or did you think she'd admit it?

[Emily]

I didn't know. To a certain degree, I think.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

So you thought she would admit it? Did you? Did you imagine what she would?

[Emily]

I hoped she would.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Gareth understands now that he's been badly harmed by what happened to him after Ms. Bowen left. He knows the relationship knocked his life off course, but at the same time, he still clings to the idea that what he and Ms. Bowen had was something special. So when he goes to the police, he hopes she might take responsibility for what happened back then. Perhaps put it down to a moment of madness. That's not what happens.

[Emily]

I mean, Bowen. By the days that go by, I get angry and angrier.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

But you're angry with her for lying?

[Emily]

Yeah, of course I'm angry. Because, of course, if she gets her way and I'm turned into the most heinous kind of liar there is. Not just someone that lied over thieving from a shop, Someone that's tried to appropriate the victimhood of a child abuse victim because she won't accept what she did.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

This is 2015, and by now, Gareth's in his 40s. And after finally going to the police. He's not being believed. So now it's on him to prove he hasn't made the whole thing up. The police investigation begins. Consuming his empty days. He makes long lists of all the teachers he remembers. Each one he's sure can vouch for the fact that he had a thing with Ms. Bowen. The police start calling round and speaking to dozens of teachers. Des Tinch, the head of year, who his mother spoke to, Heather MacIsaac, Ms. Bowen's friend, who told him she didn't agree with the relationship, and lots of others. And each time they get hold of someone, they call Gareth to update him.

[Emily]

Yeah, there were blows. Each one was a blow.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

None of them are prepared to say, I saw Gareth with her, or I saw, you know, I knew this stuff was going on.

[Emily]

But it's a bit hard, though, isn't it, because.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Because they would have to admit, Right.

[Emily]

How do you say that?

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

They would have to admit that they saw it happening and they did nothing.

[Emily]

How do you say that? How do you say, I knew? I knew and I did nothing and you were teacher. No, you can't. But they did know.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

The police get hold of one teacher, William Roach, who tells them he remembers rumors going round the staff room about Ms. Bowen and a student, but he can't remember the kid's name. And an English teacher, Mick Gray, says he remembers Ms. Bowen as being very flirty and that there were lots of rumours going round the staff and pupils that there was something going on between her and Gareth. Mr. Grey hadn't actually witnessed anything himself, other than an occasion at the end of term when Gareth and Ms. Bowen were both at the same pub. By then, Gareth says Ms. Bowen had become so brazen about their relationship that in a final act on her last day at the school, she took him with her to end of year staff drinks. The couple sat at their own table in full view of a whole gang of staff. But when the police tried to find witnesses, everyone they spoke to claimed not to have been there. Now I'm working my own way down that list of teachers. It's not easy. Some have changed their names after getting married. Others have no online footprint at all, or they've died. And lots of those, I do find, have no interest in engaging with me at all.

[Philippa]

Look, to be honest, I don't really want to get involved in it.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Is there any reason for that? I mean, there's. There's a public.

[Philippa]

No, no. I just don't want to get involved.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

I've spoken to a lot of. I have to Say, I'm pretty shocked by some of the responses. It's one thing for former pupils to say they don't want to be involved, but these are teachers, some of whom, like this guy, still work with children. I expected them to feel a certain responsibility to help with an investigation into potential child abuse that may have happened on their watch. Really?

[Philippa]

I'm sort of the last person, or virtually the last person you should be asking.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Well, I think anybody who was there.

[Philippa]

Well, maybe, but I don't want to be involved.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Okay.

[Philippa]

Sorry about that, but I don't want to get involved.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

No problem. All the best. Gareth did try to prepare me for it, but still, the uniformity of the response took me by surprise.

[Emily]

You know, just human beings. I disappointed that.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

But. But, I mean, I think what's outrageous about it is how many. But you would.

[Emily]

Oh, yeah.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Mad one or two.

[Emily]

Heaven MacIsaac would be a good one if you could get her to talk, by the way.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Yeah.

[Emily]

Because she was her best friend. It's a pretty rare name.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Heather MacIsaac, the only teacher who Gareth says ever confronted him back then. These days she teaches in Scotland. I managed to trace her through a hockey club she belongs to, and she tells me what she told the police a few years before. That even though she and Sally Ann Bowen were such good friends, she had absolutely no knowledge of the rumours and that if she had, she would have reported Ms. Bowen immediately. The conversation in the corridor when she apparently told Gareth she knew about the relationship. It didn't happen, she says. But when I tell her everything Gareth's been through since, she says she wants to apologise to him, that she's embarrassed she didn't protect him because he was vulnerable. And she could see that at the time. Even though she says she can't remember any of it, she does seem open to the idea of an interview. And when I tell Gareth, he's excited. At least she's engaging. But the next day, Heather MacIsaac emails again.

[Emily]

Come on, tell me.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

She just said she's very worried that, you know, she's still teaching and she's worried that association will taint her in some way.

[Emily]

I mean, Makai's. Whatever. That's all I say to you. I can still remember, you know, when she said that to me and she stood there and she looked at me and then the. The staff from Door. The old wooden staff.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

It's difficult for Gareth to swallow that so many people are constantly contradicting his memories.

[Emily]

They knew, of course. They all knew. I mean, how can the kids know and the staff not. Something went on in that school. Why did they get away with that?

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Gareth starts thinking that there's something coordinated going on, a concerted effort by the teachers to protect themselves and the school. There's no evidence for that and frankly, it sounds a bit paranoid. It's. Except we now know there is a historical precedent here that institutions like schools, have covered up sexual abuse to avoid a scandal, particularly those that feel they have a reputation to preserve.

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[Gary]

You haven't read it yet?

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

I haven't read it. I haven't read it. I have no idea what it says. I've been waiting for you and I feel like it's. I thought we should read it together, but it's slightly. I'm working from home and I've just jumped on a call with my producer Gary, because there's been a development. Phoebe from the office just sent me a WhatsApp photo of an a large envelope that arrived in the post for me today and so I said, just open it. I can't possibly Wait. And she said, oh, it's very long. And I said, I just don't care. Get to the name at the end. What's the name at the end? Because, you know, obviously I feel like I've sent out a hundred odd letters, so I have no idea. The name is Mr. D. Tinch. Des Tinch. Gareth's head of Year. I'd be happy to hear from anyone, but Mr. Tinch is near the top of my list. He's the teacher that Gareth's mum, Philippa says she called in distress when she heard the rumours about Gareth and Ms. Bowen. The same teacher who apparently told her the problem would be going away because Sally Ann Bowen was leaving the school. I've sent him a couple of letters and now he's replied with two long pages covered in flawless swirly writing. And he set out his response in neat note numbered paragraphs.

[Gary]

Yeah, I've got it. I'll just read it aloud first and then we can talk about it.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

My producer Gary, starts picking through it.

[Gary]

1. At no point did any pupil, parent, colleague or senior manager ever confide in me at the time or thereafter regarding the allegations you plan to report. Had they done so, I would have made an intervention and reported it. The pupils you cite would recognize this trait in me.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

He says Ms. Bowen was an iconoclast, a rebel woman pushing boundaries in a male dominated school.

[Gary]

Number four. If there was an internal investigation, then it was private and I was not privy to it.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

He says he never heard any rumours. The headmaster at the time, Brian Fletcher, who Sally Ann Bowen told Gareth was one of the men who confronted her about the relationship and then terminated her contract. He was a well respected and beloved leader of the school.

[Gary]

He says he would have acted if it had involved one of my year group. He would have questioned me and asked me to investigate further. He didn't. With respect, I do not wish to be contacted again. Yours sincerely, D. Tinch.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

I mean that. That is a pretty robust response to what we have said. Yeah, it's, you know, on the face of. Feels pretty persuasive. I have to say, if I hadn't spoken to Gareth and if I hadn't been speaking to him for so many months, I would find that really persuasive. The problem is that Gareth's mum is absolutely sure she spoke to him. The letter's shaken me a bit. Could Gareth and the women in his family have got this all wrong somehow? So I go back to the only physical piece of evidence from the time that note the family GP took after Speaking with Gareth's mum, in which it's clear she spoke to the school about the affair with his teacher.

[Gary]

In the document that she has from the time it says she spoke to the school.

[Emily]

School.

[Gary]

Not specifically.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

I don't think it says specifically. Des Tinch. Her memory is of Des Tinch. I'm pretty sure Gareth's gonna have a really strong reaction to Mr. Tinch's letter. But I brace myself and I send him a copy. A couple of days later, he comes into the studio armed with several A4 pages of notes. He spends hours clinically dissecting what he takes issue with, line by line, until eventually he needs a break. Go have a fag first.

[Emily]

Thank you.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Okay. It's only when he stands up to leave that he finally opens up.

[Emily]

I was so upset.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

I know you were.

[Emily]

I sent it to my mum and my sister and said, look, like, what do you think?

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Sit down for a sec. Sit down. Gary, are you still recording? I just. Tell me about your mum. Just very quickly.

[Emily]

Well, I don't know what my mum said, but she. He wrote. What I can't understand is this. What's the point in lying at his time of life? He is a bad man. My mother doesn't call people bad. I can't see how he doesn't remember calling me in to see him.

[Des Tinch]

Hello there.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Hi, it's Chloe.

[Des Tinch]

Yeah. You tried to phone me, didn't you?

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Yes, I did. Thanks. Thank you so much for getting back to me. There's a secret to investigations that most people don't bang on about because it's not very glamorous. It's that you have to be prepared to have lots of really boring, disappointing days. And if you can stick at that long enough, sometimes you hit the jackpot.

[Des Tinch]

Right. I'm telling you this because I think it was typical of Ms. Bowen.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

This is someone who was on the staff when this whole story with Ms. Bowen was playing out. He's an interesting person, but I can tell you almost nothing about him because he's been very clear. He doesn't want to be recorded and he definitely does not want to be identified. I'm calling him George. And these are my recollections of our conversation based on notes I took at the time. So not word for word, but pretty close. And he's given me permission to have them read by an actor.

[Des Tinch]

Would you like a graphic example of something she said to me once?

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

I'd love that.

[Des Tinch]

Alright. One day I was in the staff room and she was at the other end and she suddenly Called across the room and I realized she was trying to get my attention. She shouted, hey, what are you doing with your hands under the table? What was she insinuating? Well, very obviously was, you know, you're masturbating, which was stupid, obviously, but that's the kind of level she was on. And I just had this sense that she was headed for trouble.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

I've heard similar stories about Ms. Bowen from some of the former pupils I've spoken to. One guy told me that during class one day Ms. Bowen took out these Indian style paintings in which a couple was posing in different sexual positions. It was the Kama Sutra. He assumed she was giving them some kind of sex education lesson. And he says she seemed to really enjoy how shocked the boys were. But this is the first time I'm hearing that she behaved that way with members of staff. Maybe because I haven't managed to speak to many of them, so they're not responding to me. And the few I've spoken to, I think they probably at very least knew the rumours and they're not even willing to admit that. I think it's pretty unlikely that they didn't know about the rumours.

[Des Tinch]

Yeah, I'd probably agree with you on that then.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

George tells me something really interesting. That there was a group of female teachers from the English department who were trying to do something about the fact that a colleague of theirs seemed very interested in a 14 year old boy.

[Des Tinch]

There were members of staff who were concerned and I know there were some women in the English department who would have been unhappy with what Ms. Bowen was doing. They were trying to help her. I know, I know that's very, very vague, but they were.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

Another teacher I spoke to told me that a colleague of hers did know what really went on back then, but that she and others deliberately kept it within a tight circle and withheld everything they knew from the police? I tried to find that teacher, but she died a few years ago, so I can't ask her about about it. What I find fascinating is that these teachers were trying to intervene. But I can't help wondering if they were trying to help Gareth or Sally Ann Bowen. And why didn't they think to report it? Could it be that although on one level they knew the relationship was problematic, they just didn't see what was going on between this attractive young woman and her willing pupil as a abuse?

[Des Tinch]

I guess you could call me a coward, but I don't want my former colleagues to think badly of me. There's a closing of ranks then and now. I mean I think the school was terrible. If they allowed Ms. Bowen to go on and teach for 35 years, that's awful.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

So it seems there were members of staff who did know and have hidden it from the authorities. Gareth's right. Whether or not you want to call it a cover up, teachers have put their own reputations and the school's before anything else. And holding back the truth has allowed Sally Ann Bowen to continue teaching for 35 years. Three decades during which any one of the teachers who knew could have reported her. Instead, in 20, 20, six years after he first called the police to press charges, Gareth gets a call. It's the detective in charge of the investigation. He tells him that the Crown Prosecution Service has reached a final decision. Without any witnesses who are prepared to talk, there just isn't enough evidence for it to go to a jury. So they're dropping the. And where's Sally Ann Bowen at this point? Well, she's head of science at a secondary school just 30 minutes drive from Christ College. I've seen her CV. She spent years jumping from one school to another, sometimes only staying a few months. Thirteen different schools in all until she landed this last position. And all those secondary schools, multiple opportunities to repeat the behavior. The problem was pushed on from Christ College, but had it really gone away? There are so many schools she's taught at, though, none of which I have a connection to. So where to start? It turns out I don't have to look that far. Coming up on Lucky Boy.

[Emily]

And he said to me, you're not the only one.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

And then what happened? It's fair to say things started getting a little bit more inappropriate.

[Emily]

I remember those words. You're not the only one.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

For the tape, so that we have that recorded.

[Tortoise]

My name is Sally Ann Bowen and.

[Chloe Hegemotheo]

I'm the accused teacher in this case. In the past, Sally Ann Bowen has denied that she ever, ever had any kind of sexual contact with Gareth or any other boy. Lucky Boy is reported by me, Chloe Hajimotheu. The producer is Garry Marshall. Additional production from Rebecca Moore. Sound design is by Hannah Varrell. Original music by Tom Kinsella. Podcast artwork by Lola Williams. The voice actors are Steve King and James Shield. The executive producer is Basha Cummings. If you or someone you know has experienced the issues covered in this episode, there are places you can reach out to if you have any concerns about a child. Then you can contact the NSPCC's helpline by calling 0808 800-5000 or emailing helpspcc.org.uk or visiting their website. Children can contact Childline and talk to an impartial counsellor. No concern is too big or small to discuss. Simply call 0800-1111 or visit their website for a one to one chat for general concerns or talk. Adults can contact the Samaritans on 116123 or email joeamaritans.org that's jomaritans.org.

[Tortoise]

Tortoise.

[Des Tinch]

The.

[Emily]

New McCrispy strip is here.

[Des Tinch]

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[Paige Desorbo]

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