AN English teacher who got drunk, urinated in public and ran away from police after pushing an officer has admitted he had a “bad night”.
Murdo John Graham’s evening in Glasgow in December 2013 went disastrously wrong, landing him in court where he was fined and, more recently, in front of the teaching regulator.
The 37-year-old, originally from Borve in Lewis, Western Isles, was reprimanded by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).
Mr Graham, who admits to enjoying a night out and is widely praised on the website Rate My Teacher, waived his right to a hearing and admitted the charges in full.
The GTCS said that: “On 1 December 2013 at Sauchiehall Lane, Glasgow, you did urinate in such circumstances as to cause or be likely to cause, annoyance to another person.”
Mr Graham, who currently works at Glasgow Gaelic School, admitted that on the same date he “did behave in a threatening or abusive manner which was likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear and alarm in that you did repeatedly swear”.
Finally, he accepted that later on that evening, he “did restrict, obstruct or hinder constables…in the execution of their duty and did push constable [name redacted] and run away from said constables as they tried to effect an arrest.”
The GTCS paper disclose that on June 26 this year, Mr Graham was convicted at Glasgow Justice of the Peace Court for the offences, and was sentenced to an admonition and a fine of £200.
By admitting the charges, Mr Graham accepted that his fitness to teach was impaired, and he gave willing consent to a reprimand being imposed upon him.
Speaking after the decision was published, Mr Graham said: “I had a bad night back in 2013.
“I became unwisely involved in a discussion with the police, and I have accepted the reprimand.”
He added: “I’m not going to deny I enjoy a night out, but what happened makes me appear childish. I was taken to task for it, and rightly so.
“As teachers we have a responsibility to represent our school 24/7 and I have now put the incident behind me.”
It is understood that Mr Graham used to work for Ardnamurchan High School in western Lochaber in the Highlands.
Online reviews posted on Rate My Teacher describe him as an “excellent guy”.
One student wrote: “Great teacher…superb personality. Cared a lot about his pupils.”
Another said: “He has a smashing personality and you can tell from his excellent teaching skills that he is not only great at his job, he loves doing it. All the kids love him and think he’s a great teacher.”
