Headteacher guilty of sex act
A former high-flying Wolverhampton deputy headteacher has been found guilty of performing a sex act on another man at a Black Country beauty spot.
Liam Nolan, now a £64,000-a-year headteacher in Birmingham, was caught by two police officers who were hiding in undergrowth at Sandwell Valley Country Park.
He helped turn round Moreton Community School in Bushbury.
In 1999 the troubled school was threatened with closure when it was listed as one of the worst 50 schools in the country.
But by 2003, it had come out of special measures and was on the road to recovery.
GCSE passes rose from 12 per cent to 32 per cent.
Nolan, of Sheepcote Street, Birmingham city centre, who turns 40 this week, is currently headteacher at 900-pupil Perry Beeches secondary school in Birmingham.
Yesterday he looked stunned as a jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court found him guilty of outraging the public decency following his encounter with unemployed builder John Brown in last June.
Brown, aged 58, of Oakham Road, Tividale, was convicted of the same offence.
Nolan had earlier told the court: "I am openly gay and I've been in a relationship for four years.
"I know Sandwell Valley is used as a rendezvous for gays to gather but I just went there for a walk to clear my head."
He said he did not believe the incident would impact on his role as headteacher.
After his arrest, Nolan told officers he went to area to relieve himself and strenuously denied any sexual activity.
"It didn't happen, I absolutely deny the offence."
As well as being ordered to pay costs, Nolan was fined £1,000 and Brown £250.
A Birmingham City Council spokesman Lawrence Vos said: "Following the outcome of this case the chair of governors at the school remains fully supportive of Liam Nolan continuing in his role as headteacher at Perry Beeches Secondary School, and he is expected to continue in his current position."
