‘He wasn’t accountable to anyone’: Failures to discipline child sex abuser Neil Foden revealed

“There were red flags. He was not challenged by the governors,” according to one member of staff who has known Neil Foden for decades. 

S4C’s flagship current affairs programme Y Byd ar Bedwar understands that union members at Ysgol Friars in Bangor, Gwynedd, have passed a vote of no confidence in the school’s governors following the conviction of their former headteacher, Neil Foden. 

On 15 May, Foden was found guilty of sexually abusing four girls over a four-year period. He is due to be sentenced on 1 July.

No information has been released about how Neil Foden knew the girls that he abused. 

Foden was a familiar face often discussing educational matters as part of his role as headteacher of Ysgol Friars, Bangor. He was later appointed as strategic head at Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle. 

In a special programme, a colleague of Foden at Ysgol Friars has revealed that staff at the school have lost all faith in the governing body following the conviction.

The school’s governing body is responsible for making decisions on behalf of the school and disciplining teachers when necessary. 

‘No one challenged him’

The member of staff, and union member, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the programme: "They [the teachers] have no faith at all. They unanimously have no faith in the current governing body."

They say the governing body failed in their responsibility to discipline Neil Foden after he was found to have committed unacceptable professional conduct by the Education Workforce Council in 2020.

During the hearing, the panel heard that almost all of the staff at the school had signed a letter supporting Neil Foden.

In 2018, a different member of staff at Ysgol Friars, Simon Wilson, won an employment tribunal case against Neil Foden. The biology teacher was given £8,000 in compensation for the way he was treated by the former headteacher. 

This came after Mr Wilson raised his concerns about the falsification of exam results at  Ysgol Friars in 2014.

In an email, Neil Foden told Mr Wilson he would be protected against the Public Interest Disclosure Act, and would therefore not be punished for raising concerns. 

According to Simon's wife Lesley Wilson, this was not the case. 

She told the programme: “My husband was bullied and harassed by Foden over a period of four years, he was disciplined twice and suspended over a false allegation.”  

Neil Foden, on behalf of the school, denied all allegations made against the school at the time. 

Mrs Wilson believes the governing body at Ysgol Friars and Gwynedd Council should have dismissed Foden following the tribunal, and she claims that the chair of Governors, Essi Ahari, failed to ensure that Neil Foden faced any consequence for his behaviour.  

She said: “Foden should have at least been disciplined. I feel he was given the opportunity to feel more authoritative and powerful and that empowered him to go on to commit these offences against those children. 

“Neil Foden wasn’t accountable to anybody.  It’s very sad that it’s taken some young girls to stand up to Foden and hold him responsible. And all these men in positions of responsibility were not prepared to stand up to Neil Foden.” 

The member of staff who wishes to remain anonymous told Y Byd ar Bedwar that the governing body had received a Freedom of Information request asking to see any discussions surrounding the outcomes of employment tribunals between 2015 and 2023, including Simon Wilson’s case. 

These would include any discussions surrounding any possible disciplinary actions taken against Neil Foden. But in their response the governors refused to release any of the discussions regarding the cases. 

The staff member said “the only thing they have received is the records that have been completely redacted, all of the discussions have been redacted. We have no idea what has been discussed. Several requests had to be sent to the authority.

“What are they trying to hide?”

Chair of governors stands down

Little more than a week after Foden was found guilty, Essi Ahari, the chair of the governing body at Ysgol Friars, and the deputy chair, stepped down. 

In his resignation letter, which he has shared with the programme, Mr Ahari describes the verdict against Neil Foden as a “milestone”. 

He added that he and the deputy chair had been discussing “the best outcome for Friars” and “the board and us as individuals”.

He added: "We concluded that the right time to leave is now.”

In response to Simon Wilson’s tribunal, Mr Ahari said the governors received advice from the local authority and that an independent person was appointed to look at the school’s processes as a part of their attempt to learn lessons.

Prior to his resignation Mr Ahari said on behalf of the governing body that they collectively appreciate the dedication of staff over the last months and that specialist support services continued to be on offer at Ysgol Friars for anyone who needs them. 

‘Lessons to be learnt’

Cyngor Gwynedd Council has announced that the North Wales Safeguarding Board is conducting a review to look into the events involving Neil Foden. 

The member of staff is calling on the review to be a thorough one, saying: “I hope at the end it won’t just be, ‘lessons have to be learnt'."

A spokesperson for Cyngor Gwynedd Council said: “The review will bring organisations together - including Cyngor Gwynedd Council and other bodies - in order to identify what lessons need to be learnt and what improvements need to be introduced to ensure the safety and well-being of vulnerable children in order to prevent similar cases from happening again.

"With the criminal process drawing to a close, the work of reviewing and establishing what lessons are to be learnt from the case has started, and the North Wales Safeguarding Board have said that they want to carry out a child practice review, in line with the national children's practice review guidelines."

You can watch the Y Byd ar Bedwar on S4C at 8pm on Monday, 3 June, with the option of English subtitles.

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