A female teacher has been jailed for dealing drugs to pupils – with discounts for kids who bought in bulk.
Rachel Ryan, 41, ”used her knowledge” as a business studies teacher as she offered Valium, diazepam, alprazolam and nitrazepam to teenagers.
Ryan – who describes herself as a supply teacher on her LinkedIn profile – was caught after another teacher seized a student’s phone for texting in class.
It showed that the pupil was texting Ryan, who was offering a discount on bulk-buying more than 100 tablets.
She was arrested in June 2016 and police found heroin and class C drugs worth around £1,900 at her address in Banbury, Oxon.
They then discovered that Ryan, who taught at Banbury Academy, was illegally peddling tranquilisers to pupils.
They included Valium, diazepam, nitrazepam – described as a hypnotic drug used to treat sleeping problems – and alprazolam, a ‘potent’ tranquiiliser.
Ryan admitted importing and selling the drugs among seven drugs offences and was jailed for 15 months at Oxford Crown Court last Friday (Nov 24).
Detective Constable Bryan Groves, of Oxford Force CID, said: “Rachel Ryan used her knowledge gained as head of Business Studies in her role as a drug dealer.
“This was seen in one of her text messages where she offered a discounted price if a drug user purchased more than 100 tablets.
“Rachel Ryan had trust placed in her as a teacher. She had responsibilities and should have been someone for her students to look up to.
“She abused that trust and has let her students down.”
Ryan admitted three counts of being concerned in supply of class C drugs as well as three counts of importing a class C drug with intent to evade a prohibition/restriction.
There was also one further count of possessing a class A drug, namely heroin.
She moved to Swansea following her arrest last year when she was suspended from her job at the school.
