Hundreds of people have rallied behind a north-east teacher who faces being struck off after a violent confrontation with a pupil.
Christopher Butcher spun a child around by the shoulder and called him “stupid” and “a dwarf”.
Following a General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) hearing this week, the 61-year-old spoke of his sorrow that a “perfect storm” of personal circumstances had cost him his career at Fraserburgh Academy.
Now former pupils have launched a campaign to try to salvage the learning support teacher’s reputation.
The Save Mr Christopher Butcher Facebook page has been “liked” by almost 600 people and has been flooded with messages of support.
Lauren Buchan, who left the school in 2002, said: “He was a really good teacher to get on with, easy to talk to and not intimidating like some others.
“He made the work fun and explained everything properly to me and never got agitated with me if I couldn’t understand as I’m dyslexic. He spent the time with you that he thought you needed.”
She added: “I had Mr Butcher every year and I glad I did.”
Her thoughts were echoed by Sam Gledhill who said: “I couldn’t say a bad thing about him. He helped me a lot – with spelling, reading and handwriting – and he was a great guy.”
Craig Sandison, who left the academy in 1995, said: “I’d never heard a bad word about him from my friends or any other pupils at the time I left.”
Family friend Claire Renirie is also supporting the group, insisting it would be “terrible for his career to end this way”.
She said: “He is a very caring, dedicated man who has been a great teacher to hundreds, if not thousands of kids over the years.”
Earlier this week the GTCS panel was shown startling CCTV footage – taken in a corridor at Fraserburgh Academy on June 24, 2013 – of Mr Butcher grabbing the pupil by the shoulder and spinning him around before verbally abusing him.
Mr Butcher, who is from Strichen, was sacked by Aberdeenshire Council shortly after the incident. He immediately appealed but stood down from his post in February last year – only two months before he was due to retire.
Now the GTCS has ruled his fitness to teach was “impaired” – despite receiving letters in his defence from former pupils.
Mr Butcher – who taught for 31 years without incident – told the panel his wife is terminally ill and that several years ago his daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
He said these factors “contributed in no small way to what happened”.
“It was a perfect storm of a situation and I lost the plot,” he said before admitting the assault had left him feeling “dreadfully ashamed”.
Last night the Facebook page’s administrator Lee Bannerman said: “Mr Butcher is very well known throughout the town mainly due to his extensive teaching knowledge and kind loving nature.
“He has taught two generations and has never been known to be like this. I think people should know the support he has behind him.”
The GTCS panel will now decide if Mr Butcher should be struck off the teaching register.