A shamed teacher who ‘destroyed her life’ by having sex with a teenage pupil in a break room is now a happily married mother-of-two who has quietly rebuilt her life, MailOnline can reveal.
Eppie Sprung Dawson lost her marriage and her job after police officers discovered her half naked in a car with the child.
Her crime, for which she was spared jail time but forced to sign the sex offender registry, had been largely forgotten for the past 12 years until Thursday, when she called into a radio show about prison reform.
In the awkward radio exchange, Eppie, 38, complained to the host that she is “stigmatized” by her sexual offense and “wasn’t invited to her daughter’s friends’ birthday parties.”
Following her conviction for the crime after a school Christmas party in 2012, the 26-year-old’s life fell apart.
Eppie Sprung Dawson, an embarrassed teacher who “destroyed her life” by having sex with a teenage student in a break room, is now a happily married mother of two.
Matthew Robinson photographed outside his home in Dumfries in 2013. He was 17 years old at the time of the incident.
Now 38, the former teacher has rebuilt her life and is married to Chris Atkinson.
Sprung pictured outside the couple’s three-bedroom semi-detached house near Dumfries today
She was struck off the teaching register, her husband Ranald Dawson divorced her, and she was publicly shamed, including by the parents of Matthew Robinson, the boy she was in a relationship with.
Showing little remorse for his crime, Sprung brazenly moved the 18-year-old (and his X-Box) into his marital home, although he denied that they were in a relationship.
Matthew’s furious father Jonathan said at the time: “She’s got him trapped at the moment.” She just can’t let go.
Since then, Sprung, who goes by her maiden name, found love with Chris Atkinson, who runs his own construction company.
The couple married at Cheylesmore Manor House in Coventry in September 2021, followed by a reception at a local cocktail bar.
In a much-loved post on Facebook, Chris spoke of feeling “happy and relaxed” during the nuptials, adding: “We had a great time!”
Other posts on the site show them doting on a young son and daughter.
In a recent interview, she revealed that when she first sought IVF to conceive her daughter five years ago, she was told that her past could prevent her from receiving treatment.
She came up with Ranald Dawson, who divorced her after she pleaded guilty to a charge of breach of trust.
Sprung’s crime had been largely forgotten for the past 12 years until Thursday, when she phoned a radio show about prison reform, complaining that she was “stigmatized” by her crime.
Sprung, who uses her maiden name, taught English at St Joseph’s College (pictured) in Dumfries and agreed to give extra lessons to dyslexic teenager Mr Robinson.
She said: “I didn’t know it at the time, but you have to answer questions about your criminal record.” Normally, if you conceive naturally, that doesn’t matter, but here was a fertility clinic that told me I could refuse treatment.”
Yesterday, at the couple’s three-bedroom terraced house in the countryside east of Dumfries, Sprung declined to comment.
But a friend told MailOnline: ‘Eppie was at his lowest point after his conviction. He lost the career he loved and his marriage collapsed. Now he is happy again and looks forward to the future. He has left what happened in the past.
Since her crime abruptly ended her career as an English teacher, Sprung turned to the charitable and nonprofit sector in her native Dumfries, Scotland.
After working in LGBT, sporting and ‘third sector’ organisations, two years ago he founded a charity to work with criminals.
On the Next Chapter Scotland website, CEO Sprung says: “When my children grow up and have to deal with the inevitable consequences of my own conviction, I hope they will be proud that I am at least doing something useful with the experience.” .’
Earlier this year, when Huw Edwards pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children, he quickly compared his situation to that of the embarrassed BBC newsreader, posting on X: “One of the unique things about a conviction for a crime Sexual is how society erases everything good you’ve done before that moment. As if nothing good you’ve done in the past counts anymore. Watching Huw Edwards unfold makes me sad.”
Sprung frequently shares posts by former far-left Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn on his social media platforms and described coverage in the Daily Record on his radio phone as “channel press”.
Sprung is now a mother of two, but has complained that her offending meant she was “not invited to her daughter’s friends’ birthday parties”.
A friend told MailOnline: ‘Eppie was at his lowest point after his conviction. He lost the career he loved and his marriage collapsed. Now he is happy again and looks forward to the future. She has put what happened in the past’
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Sprung said: ‘I have a conviction for a sexual offence.
‘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.”
The phone number featured on Mornings with Stephen Jardine talked about the early release of prisoners.
Sprung married Atkinson at Cheylesmore Manor House in Coventry in September 2021, followed by a reception at a local cocktail bar.
In a loving Facebook post, Mr Atkinson spoke of feeling “happy and relaxed” during the nuptials, adding: “We had a great time!”
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.
Sprung became a social pariah after police caught her and Mr. Robinson half-naked in a secluded rest area in December 2012, after a school Christmas dance.
Officers who had been patrolling became suspicious when they saw condensation on the car’s windows and found them in the front seat.
It later emerged that they had also had sex in the PE department while his unconscious mother, Sheree, waited for him at the school gates.
Sprung taught English at St Joseph’s College in Dumfries and 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.
Sprung pictured leaving Dumfries Sherrif Court in 2013, where she escaped a prison sentence.
Sprung pictured with her ex-husband Dawson. The couple was married for two years.
Sprung’s new husband (pictured) runs his own construction company
He has been accused of breach of trust and I don’t see anything to be gained from a custodial sentence.
His lawyer, David Finnie, told the court: “His life has been virtually destroyed by this.”
His victim, Matthew, is now 29 years old and married with two children and still lives in Dumfries.
Speaking to MailOnline after Sprung’s radio phone-in, he said they were still in contact, but not regularly.
‘I guess she’s getting on with her own life, figuring things out. I didn’t know she was on the radio. She didn’t message me to say so.
When asked if they still talk, he said, “On the rare occasions he does, he usually tells me.” But as far as I know, she has moved on and so have I, it’s that simple.
