Married headmaster suspended over ‘lunchtime romps with chairwoman of governors’

A married headmaster has been suspended amid claims he engaged in steamy romps with his chairwoman of governors – during school LUNCHTIMES.

Richard Tattersfield is accused of starting an affair with pretty Keely Huxtable while working at Dame Elizabeth Cadbury Technology College in Bournville, Birmingham.

The 45-year-old was suspended from his position on December 15 after allegedly being caught caught in his boxer shorts with a naked Mrs Huxtable – by his WIFE.

His 33-year-old blonde lover – who is married to a Conservative councillor  – then resigned as chairwoman of the governing body at the state-funded school the following day.

The pair have now both split from their spouses and are living at Mrs Huxtable’s marital home in Stirchley, Birmingham.

It is understood their affair was rumbled by Mr Tattersfield’s wife Janet who found them together at a rented house on December 12.

Yesterday (Mon) Mrs Tattersfield, 42, confirmed her estranged husband struck up the relationship with Mrs Huxtable while they were still together.

Speaking from her home in Cheswick Green, near Solihull, West Mids., she added: “I can appreciate the delicate nature of this but I will say we were not separated when they started their relationship.

“They did start the affair while we were still together.

“But I’m being the honourable mum and saying nothing more than that because my children are worth more.

“I’m not going to say anything about whether I caught them or not.

“Any mother would do the honourable thing, I have to stand above all of this.”

Birmingham City Council has now launched an investigation into the “serious allegations”.

The authority are probing allegations the couple used the rented property to meet on a number of Friday afternoons in November and December during school hours.

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: “On the basis of the seriousness of the allegations made, the headteacher was suspended in December, pending an investigation which is currently under way.

“The chair of governors also resigned in December.”

Yesterday Mrs Huxtable –  a former rising star of the Tory party who stood for election as an MP in 2010 – denied being caught in the comprising position.

The former council finance officer said the pair were fully dressed while working on “strategic leadership planning”.

She added: “We only started a relationship properly after November, it’s never been about sex.

“It’s about two people with a shared massive passion for something [education] that have just got closer together.

“This is one person’s word against another person’s.

“I can tell you that Richard and I are together, but it has no bearing on our professional lives.

“My conscience is totally and utterly clear. If we had done something wrong I would have put my hands up to it.

“We only started a relationship properly after November, it’s never been about sex.

“It’s about two people with a shared massive passion for something [education] that have just got closer together.

“When it crossed over [to something sexual] I can’t honestly tell you, it doesn’t matter, but I think it was November.

“We have not done things wrong, this is political and a bit of a witch-hunt.

“I’ve given my heart to the school for the past seven years, I am heartbroken by this.”

It is also claimed Mrs Huxtable, who is not being investigated, once sent a poem to the headteacher entitled How Do I Know I Love You?.

She is thought to have told her husband Timothy Huxtable, a Tory councillor at Birmingham City Council, that she was leaving him on November 1.

She admitted that she had met the head at the rented house in Cotteridge, Birmingham, but claimed it was because there were “too many interruptions” at the school.

Mrs Huxtable added: “I have met with him on Friday afternoons twice at the house [in Cotteridge].

“The school had been found to be weak around humanities and maths and we had to re-write the school’s management plan, that’s what we were doing.

“She [Mrs Tattersfield] was there for five minutes, it [the sex allegation] is a load of rubbish.”

Ambitious Mrs Huxtable became the youngest woman to be selected by the Conservative Party to stand in the 2010 General Election.

But she lost her bid to win the seat of Northfield in Birmingham which was retained by Labour MP Richard Burden.

Dame Elizabeth Cadbury Technology College was praised by Ofsted inspectors during the latest inspection of the school in November 2012 when it was rated ‘good’.

The report said: “Since the head teacher took up his post in 2010, the school has improved rapidly.”

And the governing body was also praised, saying it had taken “an active strategic lead in ensuring the continuing improvement of the school”.

Labour MP Steve McCabe has reassured parents of pupils at the school – which is in his Selly Oak constituency – that the matter was being “properly investigated”.

He added: “I can confirm that the headteacher has been suspended but I am satisfied there are no issues related to the safety or well-being of the children at the school.”