Teacher threatened to rip out pupils' vocal cords

A supply teacher found to have made racist comments towards pupils and threatened to "rip their vocal cords out and feed them to the lions" has been banned.

Anton Van Der Watt was struck off after making offensive and aggressive remarks at Brine Leas School in Nantwich, Cheshire, in April 2025.

The Teacher Regulation Agency also found he demonstrated aggressive behaviour towards the students, which included pushing and pinching.

Van Der Watt was not present at the hearing held in July, but in an email he sent in August, he apologised to "anyone that experienced stress or hardship through my alleged actions".

The 66-year-old was employed by Watford-based Simply Education and supplied cover at Brine Leas School, which has about 1,400 pupils, on 24 April 2025.

He was sent home early following complaints by the pupils, who were asked to provide written accounts of what happened.

One pupil said Van Der Watt had placed his hand on their neck, pushed them into their chair and pinched them.

The child said they were looking at the teacher "in shock", adding: "I did not know what to do. He then pinched me in the neck.

"It did hurt. We were being pressed into the chair. I was having to lean forward as he pinched my neck with his fingers."

In an email responding to this specific allegation, Van Der Watt said he had been talking about his background and the students asked him to demonstrate how to control boys who acted aggressively.

According to the panel's report, his email said he had no intention to harm a young person "in any shape or form".

It added: "I am very disappointed and apologetic about the whole incident and feel that I let myself and the profession down by allowing the boys to convince me into demonstrating, in a light-hearted manner, a way to defuse a potential dangerous situation by using relationships, trust and humour."

The panel also found he punched another pupil on the shoulder before saying to them: "Do you want to go home on crutches? I will break your leg."

He also threatened to hit pupils if they did anything wrong, told one or more of them to shut up, and threatened to "rip their vocal cords out and feed them to the lions", the report said.

The panel found he also made inappropriate racial comments, including saying "people of colour would not be allowed on trains and buses" or in his classroom when he was younger.

In a meeting with his employer, which took place on 21 July 2025, Van Der Watt accepted his language "may have been misinterpreted" and apologised.

The panel's report said his conduct "fell significantly short" of the standards expected and that he failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with pupils.

It added that, in an email sent on 13 August 2026, Van Der Watt said: "Please allow me again to offer my sincere apologies to anyone that experienced stress or hardship through my alleged actions.

"This not my style and I would not want it to be my legacy."

The report said he had "always been proud" to be a teacher, claiming to have helped many children during his career, and "was upset that these incidents have occurred".

Van Der Watt was prohibited indefinitely from teaching at any school, sixth form college, youth accommodation or children's home in England.

He can apply for the ban to be lifted, the report said, but not until 28 October 2029.

Simply Education confirmed Van Der Watt worked for the agency at the time of the incident and had passed all legal safeguarding and compliance checks.

"We took immediate action in line with our policy and processes, and he did not work for us again," said the firm.

The BBC has also approached Brine Leas School for a comment.

Read more Cheshire stories from the BBC and follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.