Scots teacher found half naked in layby with pupil, 17, is now re-married with two kids
A TEACHER found naked in a layby with a teen pupil who moaned “I don’t get invited to kids’ parties” is now a happily married mother-of-two, it has emerged.
Eppie Sprung Dawson was convicted of having sex with a 17-year-old pupil after cops found her inside her car with the teen.
But on Thursday the 38-year-old – who was placed on the sex offenders register in 2013 for six months following her crime – rang in to BBC Radio Scotland to whinge about the “stigma” she faces.
The radio phone-in was discussing prison reform – and she revealed she “wasn’t invited to her daughter’s friends’ birthday parties”.
It has now emerged the former teacher has re-married.
According to the Mail, Sprung, who uses her maiden name, has found love with Chris Atkinson, who runs his own building company.
The pair married at Cheylesmore Manor House in Coventry in September 2021, followed by a reception in a local cocktail bar.
In a loved-up post on Facebook, Chris spoke of feeling “happy and relaxed” during the nuptials, adding “we had such a great time!”
Other posts on the site show them doting over a young son and daughter.
In a recent interview, she revealed when she first sought IVF to conceive her daughter five years ago, she was told her past could bar her from treatment.
A friend told the Mail: “Eppie was at her lowest point after her conviction. She lost her the career she loved, and her marriage collapsed. Now she is happy again and she is looking forward to the future. She has put what happened in the past.”
She admitted sexual activity with a person under 18 while she was his teacher and in a position of trust.
Sprung Dawson drove to a secluded layby with the teen in December 2012 following a school Christmas dance and had sex with him.
The pair were discovered by a police patrol who spotted condensation on the car windows and found them in the front seat.
Sprung Dawson, then aged 26, taught English at St Joseph’s College in Dumfries.
She had agreed to give the dyslexic teenager extra lessons – but lost her job and marriage following her disgrace.
Judge George Jamieson decided to spare Sprung Dawson a jail sentence following her conviction at Dumfries Sheriff Court in 2013.
He told her: “You were there simply to teach but you have been called into temptation and you have committed adultery.
“Your marriage is gone and your career as a teacher is gone. What you have been charged with is a breach of trust.
“I cannot see that there is anything to be gained by a custodial sentence.
“Had it not been for the fact that you were this young man’s teacher, there would have been no criminality.”
Sprung Dawson ended up living with the teen in her marital home less than two months after she was put on the sex offenders’ register.
But the teen said they were not in a relationship and he later moved out.
Sprung Dawson was struck off the teaching register following her conviction and has since set up a charity, Next Chapter Scotland.
The charity “‘helps anyone who has been involved with the criminal justice system to navigate the stigma and discrimination that they can face throughout their lives”.
On the website for Next Chapter Scotland, CEO Sprung says: “When my children grow up and have to deal with the inevitable consequences of my own conviction, I hope they’ll feel proud that I’m at least doing something useful with the experience.”
Earlier this year when Huw Edwards’ pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children, she was quick to liken her situation to that of the shamed BBC Newsreader.
Posting on X, she said: “One of the unique things about a conviction for a sexual offence is the way in which society erases every good thing you’ve ever done prior to that moment.
“As if nothing good you’ve done in the past counts any longer. Watching it play out for Huw Edwards makes me sad.”