Former head found guilty of harassing young female teacher

A former head teacher “abused his power” while in his role by harassing a newly qualified female teacher – a court has heard today.Greg Hill, who was the head teacher of Howard Junior School in Lynn for 15 years, was found guilty today of causing harassment without violence against Chloe Regester, who previously worked under him.The final day of the trial took place at Great Yarmouth Magistrates’ Court, where closing statements were heard by prosecutor Monali Raleraskar and Hill’s solicitor, Mathew Dance.

After the four-day-long trial – which started last month, District Judge Christopher Williams concluded that Mr Hill was guilty of causing harassment without violence between March 12 2022 and February 22 2023 as well as resisting police arrest on March 6.However, despite District Judge Williams’ verdict, a defiant Mr Hill continued to plead his innocence while sitting in the dock as he heard his fate.The 48-year-old, of Valley Way in Fakenham, remained stone-faced and was heard repeatedly calling out “no” before shouting “I am innocent of both charges.”

While giving his verdict, District Judge Williams said that Mr Hill’s evidence given throughout the trial was “inconsistent” and that he was a “difficult witness”. The judge said that Hill would “fall back” on speaking about his own achievements while he was under the pressure of the prosecution.“He paints himself as the victim,” said District Judge Williams. The judge compared evidence given by Miss Regester and Hill and said that Miss Regester’s evidence remained “consistent”.“I find her explanation credible,” he said.Ms Regester previously said she had been left “petrified”, “vulnerable” and “fuming”, alleging that Hill listened into her conversations at school, took photographs of her car while she was celebrating her brother’s birthday, and embarrassed her during an assembly. Ms Regester was first hired at Howard Junior School in September 2021 as a newly-qualified teacher.She had recently graduated from Durham University, and this was her first full-time role.Soon after starting her role, she began receiving messages from Hill via the social media platform X (at the time Twitter) using the school’s account.Early messages included: “Fantastic Tweet, that is the spirit.” As this continued, Ms Regester claimed that other staff members became “hostile” towards her because she was being “favourited by Greg Hill”. The court heard that Hill soon started to message Ms Regester privately asking about school return dates, and would on occasion send heart emojis and kisses – which she sometimes returned.She argued that she does this on a regular basis as a “young girl”, and did not mean anything by it.He told her not to associate with teaching assistants on staff nights out, and at the time she took his advice on board.The court was previously told that Hill sent a message to Ms Regester saying: “Chloe, I would love to build a future for us inside and outside of school.” In another message, he said: “I have fallen in love with you. It will take time to adjust, but each day is getting easier.”The court heard that Hill’s previous good character had been blemished by evidence given by Isabel Rowe, a previous young teacher at Howard Junior School who said she was also the subject of his inappropriate behaviour during her first stint at the Gaywood school.Judge Williams said that this was evidence that Hill “acted inappropriately with young teaching staff”.Ms Regester also said that Mr Hill humiliated her during a school assembly by stating she was hungover the morning after her birthday. She feels this “slandered” her name.After this incident, Ms Regester confronted Hill and made a secret recording of the conversation on her phone.The court previously heard that Ms Regester is a lesbian. She had said that Hill made references to her “lesbian clothing” and jewellery.Hill had previously argued he didn’t know about Ms Regester’s sexuality at the time, but District Judge Williams said he “does not accept” this claim due to Hill’s heavy use of social media. Witnesses also provided evidence that Hill had photographs of Ms Regester and her partner stored on the camera roll on his phone.Earlier during the trial when Mr Hill took to the stand, he argued that his feelings for Ms Regester were reciprocated by her.Hill also argued that Ms Regester had taken matters to court for “financial gain”.However, District Judge Williams said that there was “no declaration of love” by Ms Regester towards Hill. The judge added that it was “difficult to understand why” Hill continued to keep making contact with Ms Regester.District Judge Williams said that Ms Regester continued to respond to these messages to “pacify” her boss at the time.“I am satisfied this was unwanted contact,” he said.Hill was also found guilty of resisting arrest by police, he claims that he was assaulted by Norfolk Police officers and that he nearly died. Video footage was played during the trial of Hill’s arrest. The defendant decided to leave the courtroom while this was played after becoming emotional.During the footage, he can be heard shouting: “This is like George Floyd in America.”District Judge Williams described Hill’s behaviour throughout the arrest as “bizarre”.“It could have been the moment when he knew the game was up. Maybe it was because it happened on school grounds,” he said.“He was not assaulted by the police, the police were incredibly patient with him.“Mr Hill didn’t want to be arrested and he did everything he could to stop police from arresting him.”The judge said that Hill’s injuries were caused as a result of his own actions.A pre-sentence report will be carried out before Hill is sentenced on September 2. It is currently not known which court the sentencing will take place at.He has been released on conditional bail.When leaving the dock, Hill said he will be appealing the judge’s decision “straight away”.