An embarrassed teacher who was found half-naked with her teenage pupil yesterday complained her sex offense had left her “stigmatised”.
Eppie Sprung Dawson was convicted of having sex with a 17-year-old schoolgirl after police officers found her inside a car with her victim.
The 38-year-old was placed on the sex offenders’ register for six months and given a half-year community revenge order after she admitted having sex with a person under 18 while she was his teacher and in a position of trust.
He was spared jail, but yesterday he went on a phone-in radio show to complain about the stigma and press attention his conviction attracted.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Sprung Dawson said: ”I have a conviction for a sexual offence.
Disgraced teacher Eppie Sprung Dawson convicted of having sex with 17-year-old student
‘I was a teacher and had an affair with a 17-year-old pupil, so I have experience of living with the challenges a person can face as a result of having a criminal record.
‘I never experienced a custodial sentence, but I certainly experienced a stigma.
‘I mean, I had an exceptionally large amount of press coverage, media coverage, for many, many years after my conviction.
‘And I think I would say that was the hardest thing I experienced.
But I want to say, of course, that people convicted of a sexual crime, in particular, face the greatest degree of stigma.
“And things like employment, even things like not being invited to my daughter’s friends’ birthday parties.”
Sprung Dawson says she has experienced ‘the greatest degree of stigma’ since she was convicted
The phone number featured on Mornings with Stephen Jardine talked about the early release of prisoners.
Almost 500 prisoners have been released ahead of their arrival in Scotland as part of the emergency early release scheme.
It was introduced amid severe overcrowding in Scotland’s prisons, where prisoners serving short sentences of less than four years and those with 180 days or less left to serve were being considered for release.
Those serving life sentences or in prison for sexual offences, domestic abuse or terrorist offenses were automatically excluded from the scheme.
Sprung Dawson lost her marriage and her job after she drove to a secluded rest stop with the teen in December 2012 after a school Christmas dance and had sex with him.
The pair were discovered by police officers on patrol and became suspicious when they saw condensation on the car windows and found them in the front seat.
Sprung Dawson, then 26, taught English at St Joseph’s College in Dumfries and had agreed to give the dyslexic teenager extra lessons.
When she was sentenced in June the following year at Dumfries Sheriff Court, Judge George Jamieson told her: “You were there simply to teach, but you have been called into temptation and committed adultery; your marriage is gone and your career as a the teacher is gone.
The former teacher was caught in a rest area with a teenage student in 2012.
Sprung Dawson has since set up a charity to help people with criminal convictions deal with “stigma and discrimination”.
He has been accused of breach of trust and I don’t see anything to be gained from a custodial sentence.
“If it had not been for the fact that you were this young man’s teacher, there would have been no criminality.”
It was later learned that she ended up living with the child in her marital home less than two months after being registered.
At the time he said they were not in a relationship and then moved out.
Sprung Dawson was struck from the teaching register in December 2013.
He has since set up a charity called Next Chapter Scotland, which works to “help anyone who has been involved in the criminal justice system overcome the stigma and discrimination they may face throughout their lives.”
He said his “vision” was of a society that “no longer judges people based on their worst decisions, but sees them as they are today.”
Next Chapter Scotland has won money from the National Lottery community fund as well as other organisations.