Daniel Rickard, 32, allegedly took girl, 17, to hostel basement where they had sex
A teacher has been suspended for one year after boasting that he had 'smashed' a 17-year-old schoolgirl on a history trip to Berlin, and allowed her to drink alcohol while the pair were alone together.
Daniel Rickard, 32, is banned from the classroom after his boastful claims, which he said were made up to gain the admiration of fellow colleagues, and nothing sexual happened between him and the girl.
A disciplinary hearing today ruled his drunken antics with the girl were 'unacceptable professional conduct' which could mean him being banned from the classroom for life.
The father-of-two then told a colleague that he could 'tick it off his bucket list" - and then said: 'I would probably do it again'.
Form teacher Rickard took the party of teenagers from his 830-pupil comprehensive school in Bridgend, South Wales, to Berlin for the four-day history and RE trip.
But he bragged about having sex in the basement with the girl - identified only as Pupil A - after staying up all night drinking after a day visiting the Berlin Wall and the Reichstag.
The hearing was told he then bragged to head of history Paul Hicks: 'You know [Pupil A]? I've just smashed her.'
Four days later in a text to the same teacher saying: 'Worse thing is in the same situation I'd probably do it again;) lol.'
Rickard was accused of unacceptable professional conduct, in that he allowed Pupil A to consume alcohol and was alone with Pupil A during part of the night.
His colleague Paul Hicks, who worked alongside him at Cynffig Comprehensive School, told the Education Workforce Council this week that his colleague showed no remorse.
Speaking at the hearing, Mr Hicks said: 'He told me he could 'tick it off his bucket list' now.
'He did not show any regret and he was quite boastful.
'At one point he took a call from his girlfriend and asked about his children, and then carried on with what he was talking about.'
Mr Rickard denied the claims throughout the hearing and said his comments were 'just banter'. He said the events had not taken place.
The father-of-two told a misconduct hearing he made it up as 'a bit of a tease' between the two men.
Rickard said: 'It was such laddish behaviour, which I now can't take back.
'There had been discussions and observations made by myself and him about the girl on the trip.
'It was a bit of a tease and a wind-up.'
But Rickard told the hearing in Cardiff he'd made up the story to gain admiration from his colleague.
Rickard said: 'It was my intention to get admiration from him. I wanted to plant a seed in his head that something had happened.
'I accept I let the hoodwink continue for a little bit.'
The teacher had worked at the Cynffig Comprehensive School in Bridgend, South Wales, for seven years before allegedly having sex with the girl on the trip in February 2016.
Giving evidence at the hearing Mr Hick said: 'I was woken up by Daniel in our shared bedroom, he said it was 6am. He told me he had been drinking and looked unsteady.
'I asked him where he had been and he said he had been drinking with a group of men. He got into bed and he said "you know [Pupil A], I've just smashed her". I believe he was implying he had sexual intercourse with Pupil A. I was shocked and said "Are you joking?"
'But Daniel said no. I was unsure what he had told me was true.'
Mr Hicks said he later went down to breakfast where he was told by another teacher on the trip that Pupil A had not returned to her room until 6am, which led him to believe what Mr Rickard had said was true.
Before returning home, teachers and pupils went for a last-minute shopping trip where colleagues went for coffee with Mr Rickard and asked him to explain himself.
Mr Hicks said: 'Daniel said when everyone else went to bed he and Pupil A were left alone together and she became flirty with him.'
He added: 'He told me he went to the toilet and when he returned Pupil A had gone. He said he found her on the stairs and that she took off her top.'
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