Teacher seen slapping boy in mosque is sacked

The video shows a man slapping a child across the face in a mosque

A school teacher has been sacked after a video of him slapping a boy across the face at a local mosque was posted online.

The video was posted anonymously in the West Yorkshire social media group by someone who claimed the man was a teacher at Upper Batley High School.

A spokesperson for the school, which is boys only, confirmed it had been made aware of the footage and ended a teacher's employment as a result.

West Yorkshire Police said a man had been identified from the video and interviewed, but an investigation was ongoing.

Police have spoken to a man in connection with the incident

A force spokesperson said: "Police are aware of a video circulating on social media depicting an alleged assault, and have been conducting enquiries to establish what happened.

"Following inquiries a male was identified and interviewed by officers after attending at a police station.

"Officers are liaising with partners and the investigation remains ongoing."

A statement from the school, which has just under 800 pupils aged between 11 and 16, said: "We took action as soon as we were made aware of this incident, ending the employment of the individual concerned with immediate effect and informing the relevant authorities."

It stressed that the incident did not happen at school but said "behaviour like this goes against all that we stand for and is completely unacceptable".

It added: "The health, safety and high-quality education of our young people is our priority and what we provide every day."

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