A 30-YEAR-OLD TV producer who posed as a sixth form student at a Warminster school broke down in tears as teachers made him reveal his scam to shocked pupils.

Sheridan Simove was forced to apologise to hundreds of pupils at Kingdown School who were duped into believing he was a 16-year-old A-Level student, making a documentary about going back to school.

But teachers and governors at the school were told last weekend by programme producers how shy student Howard Simmonds was really a TV executive making a documentary for Channel 4.

TV chiefs from Channel 4 and production company The Talent Shed have apologised to the school for the scandal, which left many students in tears.

Teenagers who befriended Simove told how they celebrated his fake 17th birthday less than a month ago, with many students going round to his Warminster house for drinking sessions.

Headteacher Sheelagh Brown said she was disgusted by the company's tactics and has pulled the plug on the programme.

"It has been a shock. I found out on Sunday when the production company took us out for lunch to talk about the editing process," she said.

"It took me a couple of hours for it all to sink in, I wasn't expecting it at all.

"I thought back and there weren't any indications that this was a 30-year-old man, he was just such a good actor.

"I called the sixth formers in yesterday and Howard with the two cameramen also came in to talk to them.

"He just sat there shaking with his head in his hands saying I'm sorry while the cameramen looked grey.

"The kids gave him hell, and they kept asking him why they had betrayed them.

"There was lots of crying they were all very upset.

"He told them the friendship they had shared had been real.

"The company has apologised and the head of Channel 4 contacted me today to promise that the film would not be shown."

Simove approached the school in January saying he had been bullied and wanted to make a TV documentary about going back to school.

A sixth form student, who did not want to be named, said all the students had become close to Simove (Howard) and fell for his lies.

She said: "He had his joint 17th birthday party at the school with another girl and loads of people went.

"People were trying to get in to his good books so they would be on film. I thought he was a bit weird.

"Everyone is ringing and texting each other. We are completely shocked.

"I didn't believe it. He even wore a fake brace and put spots on his skin to make him look like a teenager.

"He held loads of parties at his house and all the students went round there drinking. Some students are completely gutted."

Horrified parents were sent a letter on Tuesday explaining why the TV crew had been thrown out.

Teachers made it clear proper police and psychological tests had been carried out before Howard Simmonds was enrolled.

A Channel 4 spokesman said they had agreed not to show the documentary but insisted they had acted within ITC guidelines.

She said: "The school is entirely blameless and Channel 4 accepts full responsibility.

"From the outset it was always the channel's intention that Howard's real identity would be explained to the school and its students long before the completion of the experiment.

"There was no intention by the channel or the production team to compromise or hurt staff and students."