Investigative reporter Chloe Hadjimatheou on her podcast’s shocking revelations about the behaviour of a Christ’s College Finchley teacher

The main school building at Christ's College Finchley — Christ’s College Finchley – (Credit – DJ Harwood, Creative Commons)

In 1988, a 14-year-old school boy called Gareth was living with a secret. He says his afternoons were spent having sex with his 27-year-old teacher: an attractive woman called Sally Anne Bowen.

She was employed to teach chemistry at Christ’s College Finchley, which back then was an all boys institution. Gareth and her began chatting as they rode the bus together after school. Then one lunch break he says Bowen caught him with an adult magazine and, pointing at a graphic image, she told him that’s what she looked like naked.

Within days he says they were having sex at her house. Gareth had barely kissed a girl before this and says the relationship with Bowen consumed him but he didn’t tell anyone about it because she impressed on him that it had to be kept between them.

But former pupils and staff say it was an open secret: the couple were often seen sneaking off together or walking arm in arm near the school. Gareth says one day Bowen told him that senior members of staff, including the headmaster, confronted her, telling her they knew about the relationship and as a result she would have to leave the school at the end of term.

But Gareth says no member of staff ever intervened to stop the relationship. A former teacher at Christ’s College says he believes the school wanted to make the problem quietly go away without the risk of bad publicity.

Now in his 50s, Gareth is trying to make sense of what happened to him but he has struggled to find people who are willing to talk. He suspects the reason is because the person he alleges abused him was an attractive woman.

Many people still struggle to see sex between a willing young boy and an adult female as child abuse. That’s why Gareth approached me, an investigative journalist at Tortoise Media, to look into the case. It was a familiar patch for me because I grew up in East Finchley.

When Bowen ended the relationship in August 1988, Gareth was devastated and at the age of 15 found himself unable to cope emotionally. Over the next few months his behaviour deteriorated and eventually the school told his parents he would have to leave.

By the time Gareth was 16 he was homeless and by 23 he had tried to kill himself several times. Although he harboured a lot of resentment towards the school he never blamed Bowen. He felt responsible for her losing her job and blamed himself for pursuing the relationship.

It was only when his own son turned 14 years old that he began to question why Bowen had wanted to have sex with a child. When he looked her up online for the first time he realised she was still teaching and wondered whether, over her 30-year career, there might be other victims out there.

In 2018 Gareth approached the Teaching Regulation Agency, which looks into allegations of professional misconduct in the profession. Having heard all the evidence the panel found that, on the balance of probabilities, she did engage in acts of a sexual nature with Gareth in her home. Sally-Anne Bowen maintains she is innocent and has lodged a court appeal against the finding.

I spent a year doing the research for what would become the podcast series Lucky Boy. During that time I found two other former Christ’s College pupils, now men in their 50s, who say they had similar experiences with Bowen.

Since the podcast, Lucky Boy, was published even more former students have come forward with their memories of Bowen’s behaviour at the school.

Bowen told Tortoise Media that all the allegations are false and that she believes Gareth and the other men who have made these claims about her are in need of psychiatric care.

Christ’s College Finchley failed to respond or provide any kind of public statement about Gareth’s allegations.

Gareth says he hopes his story will encourage others to come forward.

If you know anything about this story or want to get in touch with the team behind the podcast please contact: [email protected]

You can listen to the Tortoise investigative series, Lucky Boy, on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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