Colin KayA HEADTEACHER under fire over an abduction scandal at his Trowbridge secondary school has hit back at claims he tried to sweep the incident under the carpet.

Clarendon School headteacher Colin Kay said news 26-year-old history teacher Matthew Birch had run off with a 14-year-old girl hit him "like a bolt out of the blue".

Denying claims he tried to cover-up the teacher's suspension, Mr Kay told the Wiltshire Times he was following advice handed down from Wiltshire County Council personnel, not to release the teacher's name.

"I am sorry if the fact we have not communicated with parents has been misinterpreted as us trying to cover things up," he said.

"It was not the intention of the school to withhold any information whatsoever. It has been very frustrating. We like to be as open as possible.

"We followed the advice given by Wiltshire County Council personnel.

"It was a bolt out of the blue. Of course it is very worrying, it is very stressful and one tries one's best to do the right thing. I think we will draw some lessons from it."

Mr Kay said teachers held a "unique position of trust" and admitted he was shocked at Mr Birch's actions, promising to review the incident and take on board any lessons learned.

"This is the first time I have come across a case like this. One hopes it will never happen again.

"We have to reinforce to teachers the position they are in and how careful and sensitive they must be, not only in how they behave in school but also how they behave out of school.

"That is one of the things you accept when you become a teacher.

"There was no indication with the way Birch behaved to suggest he was anything other than a young, caring, enthusiastic teacher.

"We have the highest expectations of our teachers and, until the events occurred in the Easter holidays, we had no reason to doubt anything."

Last week the teenage girl's uncle blasted Mr Kay for his "dismissive" attitude" when he visited the school with his wife following their niece's abduction.

Responding to the criticism Mr Kay added: "They are very angry about what happened and I understand that. We have different perceptions of the way I dealt with it at the time.

"We are all human. We don't get things right all the time.

"As soon as we were made aware Birch was suspended. We did take the matter very seriously."

Looking towards the new school year Mr Kay said he wanted to put the events of the summer behind him.

"We are lucky to have a very caring community in school. When the new year starts we must be able to clear the decks and put this behind us, to allow the students to carry on and concentrate on what they need to do," he said.

Mr Kay vowed disciplinary procedures would be fast-tracked when the court case is over, as a speedy resolution "would be in everybody's best interest".

Chippenham magistrates will sentence Baptist minister's son Matthew Birch on Thursday.

Birch, 26, the son of North Bradley minister the Rev Richard Birch, lives in the village with his family.

Birch admitted abducting the Trowbridge teenager on April 22 at an earlier court hearing.