Sally Anne Bowen doesn’t want to speak about her relationship with Gareth, but it turns out there is a way of hearing her version of events. And after months of searching, Chloe gets a message from another ‘lucky boy’. You can find out more about Tortoise:Download the Tortoise app - for a listening experience curated by our journalistsSubscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free contentBecome a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and moreIf you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact hello@tortoisemedia.comReported and produced by: Chloe Hadjimatheou and Gary MarshallSound design: Hannah VarrallPodcast artwork: Lola WilliamsExecutive producer: Basia Cummings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What warning does this episode include?
tortoise. Just a warning before we start. This episode includes descriptions of sexual abuse and strong language. Last time on Lucky Boy.
One, at no point did any pupil, parent, colleague or senior manager ever confide in me, at the time or thereafter.
There's a closing of ranks, then and now.
I would have made an intervention and reported it.
Chapter 2: What is Gareth's experience and how has it affected him?
A 14-year-old having sex with a 27-year-old teacher, that's going to have a certain effect on him.
But I think what it's done is fossilised him, emotionally.
So I would have been about 20. Yeah, I'd have been about 20, I'd say. And what happened was, because I was on the tube, I was minding my own business on the tube, going from Golders Green to Hendon.
At first, Gareth doesn't really notice when this pretty ordinary-looking man gets on at Golders Green tube station.
And he decided to come and sit next to me on the tube, opposite me.
He seems to be staring at him. So Gareth looks up and eventually he places the guy. He was a couple of years above him at Christ College School.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Obviously we, like, acknowledged each other. But he's sitting opposite me.
They exchange a few bland pleasantries and then he says, this man smiles and he leans over and he says something like, now I remember you. You were the one fucking that chemistry teacher, Miss Bowen. And then he delivers a line that's stuck in Gareth's head.
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Chapter 3: How did Gareth's chance encounter on the tube impact his quest for truth?
You're not the only one. I remember those words, you're not the only one. And he got off the tube.
Gareth sat on that Northern Line train, glued to his seat in shock. Just tell me, when he said that to you, you weren't, you're not the only one.
Mm-hm.
Where was the hurt coming from? Was it that she'd betrayed you? Was it that you weren't the special one?
Right, there you go. Yeah, of course that would have been betrayal. What, after me? Was it before me? Was I like the little afterthought?
Lots of victims of child sexual abuse are under the illusion that they instigated or chose the relationship. Or in Gareth's case, that because he physically enjoyed it, it wasn't abusive. And often, years later, there's a realisation that there was a power imbalance. And that's the moment when the fact that they were used begins to dawn on them. For Gareth, it's an agonising new reality.
Because ever since that chance encounter on the tube train, he's wondered, are there other boys like him? Other lucky boys who've spent a lifetime figuring out just how unlucky they really were? For me, it gets to the heart of why this story matters. We know from Gareth that he's a casualty of abuse and of a school that refused to treat him as a victim of anything other than his own mischief.
But if the school's actions enabled Miss Bowen to continue abusing, well, that's a bigger story altogether. If there are others, how many are we talking? Can they be tracked down? And if I find them, might they be willing to finally give Gareth the corroboration he's been searching for? I'm Chloe Hajimotho, and from Tortoise, this is Lucky Boy. Episode 4, The Lucky Boys.
You know, you've got to remember, when I first gave my interview to... The police, I actually thought, I fucking thought she was going to come out and tell the truth. Imagine that. Imagine that. Crazy shit. Thinking back at all the different stages and like, I mean, I shouldn't be like that.
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Chapter 4: What role does the Teaching Regulation Agency play in this case?
It's now November 2022 and Gareth, or Pupil A as he's being publicly referred to in the hearing, is sitting at home in his living room looking at a handful of boxes on a screen.
Inside the boxes are barristers, panellists and... Miss Bowen, if you'd like to just put the microphone on and just say a few words for the tape so that we have that recorded.
My name is Sally-Ann Bowen and I'm the accused teacher in this case.
It's the first time he's seen her since she told him she was leaving for a kibbutz in Israel 34 years ago. Back then in 1988, they were teacher and pupil. Now they're both adults, he a man of 50 and she in her 60s, just a few years short of retirement. All this took place months before Gareth came to see me with his story, but everything you've heard him say over the last three episodes?
His entire account of what went on between them was put to Miss Bowen by barristers who cross-examined her over several days.
I do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm...
I always thought it was pretty unlikely that I'd get the chance to speak to Sally-Ann Bowen. I had hoped. I wrote her a letter and emails. But the TRA hearing means that, even if she doesn't want to talk to me, we can hear from Miss Bowen herself. This isn't her real voice, but these are her real words.
How does it feel for you to finally have your say in a hearing before a decision-maker about those allegations?
Yeah, it's a huge relief. I've had to live with these lies for eight and a half years. I've never yet had an opportunity to verbally defend myself, so I'm relieved.
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Chapter 5: How does Sally-Ann Bowen defend herself in the hearing?
This guy was in Gareth's year at school, and he told me that back in 1988, he and a group of Christ College friends walked round to Miss Bowen's house after school one afternoon. And when they knocked on the door and she answered, he says Gareth walked down the stairs to greet them. What he tells me puts Gareth inside her house.
But the panel judging Gareth's claims at the TRA hearing, they have none of this evidence. And Miss Bowen denies all the significant memories Gareth's told me about. The incident in the cafe with the porno mag, taking him to the pub and allowing him to come into her house.
Did you ever have any form of sexual contact with him?
Absolutely not.
At this point in her evidence, Miss Bowen seems very sure of herself. Gareth has to sit in silence while she's talking, but he's seething.
I can tell you for certain she's not telling the truth.
We've used AI to recreate Gareth's part of the transcript.
What Miss Bowen says is that she had no physical contact with you whatsoever, including kissing, masturbation or sex. What do you say about that?
So she's a liar. And she knows. And I know that she's a liar.
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Chapter 6: What new information surfaces during the tribunal?
Well, it's not about presenting a story. It's about being honest to the police.
I didn't remember. It's as simple as that. I didn't remember that at the time. But I did remember when I started to think about this student. I did remember things about this student from that time. I just...
Gareth's sitting on his sofa at home, taking this all in. And the one thing he can't get over is that she's speaking to the lawyer in this way that he recognises.
There's a sexuality to it as well. And I found that watching her with the TRA, that I found that she was, you know, because she was under pressure, she was pulling out all her tricks of manipulation. You know, I found them very reminiscent. of the interactions I had with her as a child. That's why, when I came to that point and I addressed her directly, it's because I recognized her.
I recognized the faces she was pulling and the way she was being, yeah?
Gareth and Miss Bowen are only ever meant to answer the questions put to them. But there's this moment when Gareth is so overwhelmed by all the emotions flooding through him that he forgets all the other people on the video call and he speaks to her directly. Suddenly, it's just him and Sally-Anne again.
You know the truth. We do know the truth, Sally-Anne. And, you know, you had sex with me on multiple occasions. Now you can try and put a new account. You can dress it up how you want. And you can split hairs over dates. You can split hairs over when certain things happen and when they didn't happen. And I was, despite thinking that I was an adult, I was a very young and naive 14, 15-year-old.
Staring right at him, Gareth says she doesn't flinch. It's impossible to tell what she's thinking. But Gareth can't stop.
Cleanse your soul, man. Don't take that shit with you. Because you take that shit with you, Sally-Anne, it's going to be on your soul. Just own it. Own it.
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Chapter 7: What was the outcome of the Teaching Regulation Agency's decision?
I know, but we need to find him.
There is still one more person I'd love to speak to. The Asian boy from Christ College School who was walking Miss Bowen home. Gareth came across him the very first time he walked to Miss Bowen's house. He remembers closing the door on this guy before going in for a cigarette and a cup of tea. After that, he never saw that kid again.
So what I need you to do is to sit down and think about any identifying features, anything that you can remember about him, just put it into words.
So I get a friend to post on one of the biggest alumni WhatsApp groups to see if anyone recognises Gareth's description. And then we wait. It feels like a long shot and honestly, I'm not really expecting anyone to respond. So I'm really surprised when a man eventually replies saying he's the guy who regularly walked Miss Bowen home. And then he drops a bombshell.
He says he was also involved sexually with Sally Ann Bowen. But he's not sure he wants to talk about it.
I like Chloe, how are you doing?
I call Gareth to fill him in, and this particular bit of news, that a boy his own age, in his year at school, had a relationship with Sally-Ann Bowen, it hits him much harder than he's expecting.
I know that it's difficult for me to say to you, don't get caught up emotionally until we've confirmed it, because there's no point in saying that, and I can imagine you've already gone there in your head.
Well, whatever he says, I just wanted to express the fact that I'm in a very mixed-up place for the last two hours. To feel jealousy or to feel competitiveness with another 51-year-old man 36 years later is an extremely confusing feeling for me. And my memories are being rewritten at the age of 51 because I didn't know certain things at the time.
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Chapter 8: How does Gareth react to the tribunal's findings?
For now, yeah, we'll cut this bit out. He tells me the name of two boys, names that have come up in my investigation. I've contacted both of them, but neither would agree to talk to me. There was also a third boy...
Gareth.
Sanjay says that he, Gareth and the other two would meet up regularly at the cafe with Miss Bowen. The incredible thing is, Gareth has no memory whatsoever of sitting with Sanjay in the cafe. But Sanjay remembers him being there, at least for some of the time. And what did you talk about when you would all hang out there?
I really don't know. At first, anyway, or general conversation, I can't really remember anything.
He says that after a while, those lunch break chats with Miss Bowen in the cafe change in tone. The other boys, who are all much wilder and more confident than Sanjay, they start pushing boundaries and finding that there isn't much resistance.
They would be much more flirtatious, particularly with Miss Bowen. They were a little bit more crude or rude with the sort of things they were coming up with. And I just sat there and I was part of it.
Sanjay remembers the boys having porno mags in the cafe. And he says Miss Bowen flicks through the pages while they ask her which of the models she looks like when she's naked. Just like Gareth, Sanjay's mind is a bit blown by this explicit sexual conversation with a grown woman, but he's shy and confused about it all. And then what happened?
I think it's fair to say things started getting a little bit more inappropriate. So I was egged on by the others to give her a kiss. So I'd kiss her. I was egged on to touch her.
When you say kiss, are we talking about a peck on the lips or are we talking about a snog?
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