Teacher who forged sick notes struck off

Marshall Maylin, 51, who taught at the Samuel Whitbread Upper School, has been banned from the country’s classrooms after admitting that he was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct which could bring the teaching professions into disrepute.

Maylin, a product design engineer teacher at the school from 2005 until the end of 2012 was cautioned by Bedfordshire police in 2012 for fraud.

A National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) disciplinary panel found him guilty of a string of allegations involving fraudulent sickness claims.

The panel’s findings say that he altered statements of fitness for work relating to Social Security or Statutory Sick Pay by increasing the number of weeks for which the statements were issued and gave his employers a false impression about his ability to work.

He emailed the school falsely claiming to have been issued with medical notes and falsely stating that he had had, or may require an operation.

The only allegation that Maylin denied was that his actions had been dishonest and that he had deliberately submitted information which he knew was false.

He claimed he had no real recollection of altering the sickness certificates or of sending the misleading emails. It was also suggested that, at the time he altered the certificates and sent the emails, he did not know what he was doing.

However, the panel rejected his denial saying : “It was the judgement of the panel that, by the standards of reasonable and honest people, the forging of sickness certificates so as to increase the period Mr Maylin was entitled to remain off work was dishonest.

“By those standards, it was also dishonest to send emails to the School which contained false information both in terms of the periods he had been signed off work and in respect of purported future medical treatment.”

The panel said it was satisfied that on the balance of probabilities that he did understand what he was doing and that in altering the sickness certificates and in sending emails knowing that they contained false information, he knew he was acting dishonestly.

Imposing the ban NCTL official, Paul Heathcote said he also was satisfied Maylin had acted dishonestly and he agreed from the panel that he should be banned from teaching.

Maylin can seek to have the ban lifted after four years.

He would need to demonstrate that he has mended his ways and there would be no repeat of what Mr Heathcote branded “wholly inappropriate behaviour.”

Maylin has appealed to the High Court against the decision.