'Obsessive' head teacher jailed for harassment

Gregory Hill harassed the trainee for almost a year

An "obsessive" former head who pursued a trainee teacher at his school, claiming he was in love with her, has been jailed for 20 weeks.

Gregory Hill, 49, made romantic advances towards the 23-year-old over an 11-month period, despite her asking him to stop.

He was convicted of harassment last month, when he was told by District Judge Christopher Williams that he had a "chilling ignorance" of the power dynamic he held over staff at the Howard Junior School in King's Lynn, Norfolk.

Sentencing Hill, at Norwich Magistrates' Court on Thursday, the judge said he had had a “significant and spectacular fall from grace”.

'Abuse of power'

"Even now you fail to realise how wrong your behaviour was," he told Hill.

“You abused the power you held” – especially over young members of staff at the school.

“You are an obsessive individual”.

Hill's trial had heard he pursued a relationship with the trainee teacher and messaged her that he had "fallen in love" with her.

In one message, the victim replied: "I never had feelings with you, this needs to stop."

He also pressurised, controlled and isolated the trainee from other members of staff, the court heard.

In a statement, the victim described Hill’s messages as a “constant drain on me, both mentally and physically... he was always hounding me with messages and emails late at night".

"I started to struggle with sleeping and would have nightmares," she said.

"I had concerns that Hill was aware of my movements and this led to a fear of seeing him when I was out and about.

“These last few years have completely changed me as a person, and I do not know if I will ever return to the person I once was.”

Hill was arrested in the car park of Howard Junior School as officers were unsure of his home address

Hill was also found guilty of resisting arrest at his school in March 2023, with police body-worn camera footage shown to the court.

During the arrest, Hill lay on the ground and complained he had been assaulted, threatened to sue police for hundreds of thousands of pounds and claimed he could not breathe.

District Judge Williams said the footage was "bizarre" as Hill pretended to be unconscious and the injuries he had from the arrest "were caused by himself".

Hill was also sentenced to a four-year stalking protection order, which prohibits him from contacting the trainee or entering her place of work, along with other restrictions around his use of social media and mobile phones.