A TEACHER was given a £19,000 payout after being wrongfully sacked by a Basildon school for failing to tell it he had been arrested for sexual assault.

Emmanuel Abadi, who was never prosecuted, was working part-time at the Basildon Academies, in Wickford Avenue, when it emerged he had been accused of sexual assault by a female pupil at a college in Richmond.

The claim came to light in March 2013. The-then principal, Bev Bell, launched disciplinary proceedings and then dismissed him for gross misconduct, claiming Mr Abadi had deliberately concealed his employment in Richmond and the allegation against him.

However, an employment tribunal has now dismissed an appeal by the school after it was previously found to have been wrong to dismiss him.

The school was also ordered to pay him £19,171 in compensation.

In his ruling to dismiss the appeal, Mr Justice Mitting, said: “In my judgment, it is clearly not the law that an employee is under such an implied obligation.

“The claimant committed no breach of contract by failing to disclose the allegation made against him by the pupil.

“If he was not in breach of contract, it is difficult to see how that omission could amount to misconduct at all, let alone misconduct sufficient to justify dismissal.”

Mr Abadi, a Nigerian citizen, had worked full-time at the Basildon school since November 2008, but his job was scaled back to two days per week when Chalvedon and Barstable schools merged to form the academies in 2011.

He took up another job, working three days a week at Richmond upon Thames College, but did not inform his Basildon employers.

In December 2012, Mr Abadi was suspended by the Richmond college when a female pupil alleged he had sexually assaulted her.

He was arrested, but the case was dropped.