Harry's teacher 'that mad woman'

The teacher who claims she helped Prince Harry cheat for his art A-level exams behaved so bizarrely that Eton's head master feared for her mental health, a tribunal heard today.

Sarah Forsyth has taken the £23,000-a-year school to an employment tribunal claiming she was unfairly sacked.

She claims that Eton's head of art, Ian Burke, whom she accuses of bullying and intimidation, painted some of Harry's A-level paintings and told her to write a commentary the prince should have written. Harry gained a B in art and a D in geography, allowing him to enter Sandhurst military academy where he started this week.

But today it can be revealed that the 30-year-old teacher's classroom methods so alarmed her colleagues they feared for her sanity and some pupils referred to her as "that mad woman".

The tribunal will hear that Miss Forsyth once made a class strip to their waists and paint on their shirts as a "protest" on her behalf; she encouraged the boys to copy images of violence, child abuse and torture and asked one pupil suffering from cancer to visualise his malignant cells.

Eton's headmaster, Tony Little, said in a statement to the tribunal: "[At] the beginning of 6 May 2003 Ian [Burke] had reported that he was concerned about Sarah's general state of mind and wellbeing. Ian had considered her behaviour increasingly bizarre and was worried about her.

"I asked Richard Schooley

[Eton's personnel manager] to look at whether we could compel Sarah to seek medical assistance."

Mr Little decided not to force Miss Forsyth to see a doctor because he feared she would accuse the college of victimisation.

He was stunned when, the following month, he was told that Miss Forsyth had secretly taped a conversation she had with Prince Harry about his A-level course work moments before he was due to sit the art exam. It was during this conversation that Miss Forsyth claims Harry admitted writing only "about a sentence" of the work.

Eton College claims the examples of Miss Forsyth's unorthodox teaching methods strengthen its case against her. The college said she was dismissed after her original twoyear probationary contract had been extended by 12 months because she was not up to the job.

In February 2002 Miss Forsyth, who had no formal teaching qualifications, asked a class of year one students to iron and print images on to their shirts as a "protest" after being told her appointment was not going to be confirmed. Mr Burke said: "This was very unprofessional. These would have been new shirts which were now ruined. In addition it was not acceptable for a teacher to ask young boys to take off

their shirts for a project. If nothing else the younger boys can be painfully self conscious."

Miss Forsyth, of Tulse Hill, agreed this was unprofessional but told the tribunal: "I did this as a form of protest because I was angry at the way I was being treated."

Mr Burke, who denies finishing Harry's paintings or helping him cheat, became increasingly concerned about Miss Forsyth's subject matter. He said: "There was often a dark and sinister side to the imagery, dwelling on death, horror and blood. For example, a boy suffering from cancer and whose mother had died was asked by Sarah to try and visualise the small cancerous growths within his body."

Miss Forsyth claimed many of the boys warmed to her and would go to her for extra tuition. The tribunal continues.