Teacher accused of repeatedly raping pupil at private girls' school cleared after just 26 minutes

A highly-respected teacher has been found not guilty of repeatedly raping a pupil at a private girls’ school.
The jury took just 26 minutes to clear Kato Harris.
Mr Harris, 37, was accused of raping the teenager three times in 2013 after inviting her for chats in a classroom during lunch breaks.
He wept and sank to his knees as the verdicts were read out yesterday.

Mr Harris told the court it would have been “completely impossible” to have carried out the attacks unobserved because staff and students could see into the room and the door would have been open.
He said strict guidelines prevented teachers and pupils from even being alone together.
Asked if there was any motive for the girl making up the allegations, he said it may have been revenge after he mocked her “silly face” in a school photo.
Mr Harris said: “It’s school policy to keep our doors open. All teachers were provided with door wedges.
“She doesn’t have a form room in the corridor. I don’t think she had lessons in the corridor either. Four-hundred girls would have been in the building. I didn’t rape her anywhere ever.”

He was the head of geography and assistant head at the £18,000-a-year school in North London at the time.
Mr Harris no longer works at the school. He is currently suspended from his job at a school in Berkshire.
The allegations emerged after the girl moved to a new school, where staff became concerned about her panic attacks.
Mr Harris, of Richmond, South West London, broke down in tears in the dock at nearby Isleworth crown court when colleagues praised him as an outstanding teacher.