Dai Griffiths writes:

When my eldest son bought a house in Milford 15 years ago, as a dutiful father I went with him to assist with settling in.

In one of the rooms of his new home we had to replace some of the carpets before they could move in.

We lifted the carpets the carpets in one room and found the previous owners had used newpapers as underlay.

Many of the papers were interesting local papers - some 40 years old.

There was also pages from the Sun newspaper and I noticed the following story which I kept. This particular article caught my eye:

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TEACHER WHO HIT BOY IS CLEARED

A young teacher who kicked a boy out of a rowdy class was yesterday cleared of assault and teachers leaders called the verdict a victory for common sense.

Rugby playing teacher David Robins, aged 21, was taking a history class at a school in Kings Lynn, Norfolk when the row started. Mr. John Bales, prosecuting at Kings Lynn, said pupils were riding Mr Robins.

The kicked boy, 13 year old Keith McGower said the teacher flew at him. “He picked me up by the scruff of the neck and threw me over the desks. He kicked me on the right leg just below the knee.” claimed the boy. He said he was ordered out of the classroom, and when he returned, the master kicked him on the right thigh.

Mr. Robins said “I cuffed him on the back of the head”. He took the boy by the arm to lead him out of the classroom. Mr Robins added “I raised my foot and toed him, I more or less pushed him with the toe. It was not hard.”

After the case, Mr. Frank Ebert, a National Union of Teachers official said no one condones illegal punishment. But in face to face situations teachers have to make decisions and they cannot always be expected to act perfectly.