School boss who hoped Ofsted inspectors would ‘go under a lorry’ on ice & sent racist messages to colleagues is banned

A SCHOOL boss who hoped Ofsted inspectors would “go under a f****** lorry” on black ice has been banned from teaching. Lee Hessey also branded parents “scrotes, vermin and pond life” and called one a “stupid cow”, a teaching panel heard. The former chief executive of The Forge Academy Trust also sent racist messages to colleagues. In one vile message, Lee wrote: “Ofsted. I hope they all go under a f****** lorry in some black ice tomorrow morning just in time for Christmas. Complete set of sh**bags.” Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! A Teacher Regulation Agency panel said it was “wholly inappropriate” for Lee to express a hope that Ofsted inspectors would die. It found his language was “abusive, offensive and far removed from the standards expected of a headteacher”. Lee was also found to have described parents as “low life”, “vermin” and a “bonkio parent”. The panel said the remarks were derogatory and inappropriate, and could potentially impugn a person’s mental health. It warned that public confidence in Lee and the wider teaching profession would be damaged if parents knew how he had referred to them. Lee, who became CEO of the trust in September 2016, was responsible for six primary schools in Nottinghamshire. Most read in The Sun But messages between him and two colleagues, sent between September 2022 and April 2023, contained a string of offensive comments. In one, Lee wrote: “Buckingham Palace will be a lim city soon.” The panel found this was a derogatory reference to Muslims. In another message, he wrote: “A coloured character. Surprise, surprise.” The panel also found the phrase “Bongo Bongo land” was an offensive and racist expression directed towards black or African people. Lee was further found to have made references to “Tourette shoulder twitching”, which the panel regarded as mocking a disability. The trust received complaints about Lee’s behaviour in 2023, including an allegation about his treatment of a pupil while he was interim headteacher during the 2021 to 2022 academic year. During the investigation, the messages were disclosed and allegations were made that Lee had used inappropriate and discriminatory language. The panel found no evidence that his actions were not deliberate or that he had been acting under extreme duress. It said Lee was the most senior person in the messaging group and should have been setting the standard. The panel added that even if the group’s tone had encouraged inappropriate “banter”, this did not lessen Lee’s responsibility. It said there was “substantial evidence” of his positive contributions to schools in deprived communities and that he had achieved “significant improvements”. The panel did not initially suggest that Lee should be banned indefinitely. But a senior TRA official acting on behalf of the Education Secretary overruled that decision. A prohibition order was deemed “proportionate” and in the “public interest”. Lee is now banned indefinitely from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.