A teacher forced into hiding after showing his students a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad fears he will spend the rest of his life “looking over his shoulder”.
The religious studies teacher was suspended in 2021 after a scandal broke out over the use of the image during a lesson and he and his family were forced to flee their home.
Now, three years later, he is still living in hiding under an assumed name and his teaching career is over, MailOnline has learned.
They have moved away from West Yorkshire after the incident three years ago in which Batley Grammar School became the center of angry protests over the “blasphemous” use of the Prophet’s image.
Close friend Paul Halloran said the teacher “worries he will always be looking over his shoulder” and has been “abandoned” as he continues to forge a new life away from friends and family.
Protesters give a statement to members of the media outside Batley Grammar School in Batley, West Yorkshire
A teacher who was suspended from a school for showing his students a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad is still in hiding three years later. Protesters photographed outside the school in 2021.
Halloran said: “He’s a very quiet, unassuming individual, a really gentle soul.”
‘Sometimes I wonder ‘when are you going to get angry about what happened to you?’ but he doesn’t, of course he’s upset, which is understandable.
“It is shocking that three years later he is still hidden, but the danger persists. I’ve seen open threats on social media from people saying, “You better not come back because I’ll be waiting if you do.”
Businessman Paul Halloran, 55, a friend of the young professor’s family, has raised more than £100,000 which the professor and his family desperately need to keep a roof over their heads.
‘That was in a public forum and was directed at a religious studies teacher who gave Eid gifts to his Muslim neighbors and who lived very happily in our multicultural environment.
‘I am in contact with him, sometimes through an intermediary, and I know he is not in the best place. I don’t know where he is and I don’t want to know because his safety is paramount.
‘Through our fundraising we are really helping him and his family, I don’t know their exact circumstances but I know the money has been very helpful to them and I’m glad we were able to help.
‘He has been abandoned by each and every person who could have helped or supported him: the school, the headteacher, the police, his union, the MPs who have served this electorate. No one intervened to help him.
‘He was a member of the National Education Union, which debated the situation in Gaza at its conference, but he defended it.
The teacher was immediately forced to flee his housing association home in Batley with his partner and four young children. Pictured: Batley High School
A protester outside the elementary school is pictured with a police officer on March 26, 2021.
“He’s still here, he doesn’t feel safe, but he knows he has to get on with his life as best he can and accept that he lives in a country where people have stood by and let this happen.”
‘Everyone threw him under the bus, he had to pick up his wife and kids and they ran him out of town. He’s looking over his shoulder all the time and living in fear. If he sees headlights coming, he gets scared.’
Halloran welcomed a report by Dame Sara Khan, the Government’s social cohesion tsar, which criticized weak leadership in the face of “aggressive” protests by “self-appointed community leaders”.
Dame Sara stated that the suspended teacher “was not considered a victim of a crime” and did not “receive any of the provisions provided for in the Victims Code.”
He added: “Failing to understand the seriousness of the incident, he was let down by all agencies involved, particularly Kirklees Council, West Yorkshire Police and Batley Multi Academy Trust.”
‘There was a considerable lack of leadership from the agencies mentioned above. “They should have issued clear messages that threats, harassment and abuse would not be tolerated under any circumstances.”
Her report was welcomed by Batley and Spen Labor MP Kim Leadbeater, who rejected the accusation that she had not tried to help the teacher in the wake of the controversy.
She said: ‘What the report says about Batley Grammar School makes deeply disturbing reading.
Showing images of the Prophet Muhammad is strictly prohibited in Islam. Protesters take part in a prayer outside Batley Primary School
Dame Sara stated that the suspended teacher “was not considered a victim of a crime” and did not “receive any of the provisions provided for in the Victims Code”
‘Although the incident took place several months before I was elected MP for Batley and Spen, since being elected I have made it very clear that protests outside the school and the teacher being forced into hiding is completely unacceptable.
‘As I said at the time, there can be absolutely no excuse for the intimidation and threats against him. While I am a strong supporter of freedom of expression and the right to peacefully protest, I also fully support restricting protests outside of schools, as the report recommends.
‘Since my election as an MP I have contacted the Batley Grammar School teacher on multiple occasions, through his union, offering him any help or support he and his family may need. His well-being has been
my absolute priority. My offer of support is always there, something I reiterated in my most recent letter last week.
‘Since 2021 there has been new leadership at Batley Grammar School, Multi Academy Trust and Kirklees Council and I have been assured that lessons have been learned from the 2021 incident. I believe
The priority now should be to use the findings of this report to ensure that the mistakes it highlights are never made again.
“As such, I fully support the report’s recommendations, including the establishment of an independent and impartial Office for Social Cohesion and Democratic Resilience.”
A spokesperson for Batley Multi Academy Trust said: “We are extremely proud of the school and our community, and how both have moved forward together so positively since the very difficult period of 2021.
‘Those events required us to support all our students, their families and our staff, including the teacher involved, to whom we provided advice and wider support.
‘We remain clear that we fulfill our responsibilities and follow due process. This included immediately establishing an independent investigation, accepting its conclusions and acting accordingly.
‘We are therefore disappointed by the report. We do not recognize much of what it contains, its description of events, or its characterization of our school and community.
‘We made the Government aware before publication that its draft report contained a number of factual inaccuracies, but we note that these have not been corrected.
‘We are also surprised that the authors of a report on social cohesion decided that the right thing to do was to name our school and identify some people.
“However, our school and community are in a very positive situation and we know this report will not alter that.”
The image shown in class was taken from the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which was the target of a mass shooting in 2015 after publishing a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
Showing images of the Prophet Muhammad is strictly prohibited in Islam.
The National Education Union has been contacted for comment.
He denied not supporting his member, noting that he received specific praise in the Khan report.
The report said: ‘We are impressed by the leadership, support and care shown by the NEU to the RS teacher.
‘From the moment they were contacted, the local representative responded urgently, immediately recognizing the seriousness of the problem and the need to protect and support the RS teacher.
“Whether engaging with the media, local authorities or the police to monitor abuse on social media and providing daily support and advice to the RS teacher, the NEU has continually provided immeasurable support to the RS teacher.”