Teacher, 30, rushed to hospital ‘after drinking water poisoned with chemical cleaner by pupils’

  • Police probing whether the drink was deliberately poisoned by a pupil or contaminated by accident
  • The teacher was taken to hospital and discharged without any lasting damage

By
Matt Blake

05:35 EST, 3 July 2012

|

08:36 EST, 3 July 2012

Police are investigating whether a pupil may be to blame after a teacher’s glass of water was apparently poisoned with a cleaning chemical.

He was rushed immediately to hospital with throat pain and difficulty breathing after sipping the drink sitting on his desk.

The glass was found inches from a cleaning spray used for wiping down whiteboards. Both have been seized by detectives after traces of the chemical were found in the drink.

Taken ill: Paramedics were called to St Monica's RC High in Bury, Gtr Manchester, after the 30-year-old teacher was said to have had difficulty breathing and had gone pale

Taken ill: Paramedics were called to St Monica’s RC High in Bury, Gtr Manchester, after the 30-year-old teacher was said to have had difficulty breathing and had gone pale

Paramedics were called to St Monica’s
RC High in Prestwich, Bury, after the 30-year-old teacher was said to
have had difficulty breathing and had gone pale.

Fortunately
there was no lasting damage to the man’s throat and he was discharged
from hospital several hours after treatment. He has now returned to
work.

Escape: Fortunately there was no lasting damage to the man's throat and he was discharged from hospital several hours after treatment. He has now returned to work.

Escape: Fortunately there was no lasting damage to the man’s throat and he was discharged from hospital several hours after treatment. He has now returned to work.

Police are now probing whether the drink could have been deliberately poisoned by a pupil or simply contaminated by accident.

It is understood that the teacher, who has not been named, took the drink at 1pm last Wednesday and began to experience mild symptoms.

But another member of staff called paramedics after hearing reports the teacher’s drink had been contaminated.

Tests
revealed a low concentration of the industrial cleaner in the drink and
medics contacted the manufacturer for safety advice.

Headteacher
Frank McCarron said: ‘We are aware of an incident which took place on
Wednesday and it is currently being investigated.’

A North West Ambulance Service
spokeswoman said: ‘We received a call at 2.37pm and responded within
five minutes. We got reports of a male who had drunk water mixed with
board cleaner.

Emergency: The teacher was rushed immediately to hospital with throat pain and difficulty breathing after sipping the drink sitting on his desk (stock image)

Emergency: The teacher was rushed immediately to hospital with throat pain and difficulty breathing after sipping the drink sitting on his desk (stock image)

‘The man was conscious but had difficulty breathing and was pale.

‘He was taken to Hope hospital for treatment.’

A GMP spokesman said: ‘Police have received a report of a man feeling unwell at St Monica’s High School in Prestwich. Inquiries are ongoing.’

 

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
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The comments below have been moderated in advance.

This is my old high school, it is an amazing school with a fabulous reputation… Just look at the ofsted reports, exam results and student/teacher/parent relationship… This is an isolated incident

No worse than when you parents used to put the bar of soap in your mouth.
– wow, What A Place Erm? I can’t remember my parents doing that…

Whilst it may be a silly prank gone wrong, the child responsible is going to have to be dealt with severely and not just a smack on the wrist. They need to be taught about consequences. Having worked in a challenging secondary school for nearly 10 years, I know that some idiot would have done it to look cool in front of his mates.

This is the high school where I went to, it has a very good reputation for both teaching standards and examination results for students. This seems to me like an isolated case, but it should be investigated fully by the police and the findings published. Those who are jumping to conclusions should wait until the truth is published.

I like how all the people condemning the kids get green arrowed, while all the people suggesting it may not have been get red arrowed. What a sad world it is when people hate kids this much.

Perhaps the victim shouldn’t be drinking in the classroom, it’s time we got rid of this ‘2 litres a day’ regime that has been promoted by the bottled water industry. I’m 60 years old and have never heard of a healthy person dying of thirst in this country.

A pupil, sorry a “student” at a RC school, never, and to think one of my relations will only let his lad go to a RC school, any other educational institution would corrupt him he says.
Whatever school, I can tell you from experience this is not impossible, but let us wait for the outcome.

The cleaning spray is actually only Ethyle Alcohol (Ethyline) at 99%pV….
Some of my Whiskies I sell over hera are sumwhat less at 58% pV…. so I wonder what would have happend if he partook in a decent Malt Whisky ….

If the liquid is used to clean blackboards pupils are going to be inhaling it anyway so it cannot be very poisonous, and if minute quantities were found in his drink the reaction of pale skin and breathing difficulties was more likely to be a panic attack.

Should go back to blackboards
– chris, shropshire, 3/7/2012 14:01No need. Chalk dust is bad for you (as well as inversatile) and if smartboards are used in place of whiteboards, board cleaner wouldn’t be needed either.

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