A teaching assistant has denied telling a group of year eight children that he killed 250 people as a sniper with the codename ‘Kill Switch’.
John Trigg-Turner, 44, is accused of making bogus claims to pupils that he had been a sniper in the US Marines and still owned a gun.
Mr Trigg-Turner, who has played wheelchair rugby for Wales and Wigan Warriors, denied being unprofessional – and told investigators his words were ‘misinterpreted’.
A professional standards hearing was told that he said he had been given an electric scooter to use while serving.
Fellow learning support assistant Sharon Davies said Mr Trigg-Turner claimed to be a Lord, had been to the Paralympics, had an MBE and had shaken hands with the King.
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But Ms Davies became suspicious when hearing stories he was telling pupils at Basseleg School in Newport, South Wales.
She said Mr Trigg-Turner told her he had served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles – but he was too young to have done so.
An Education Workforce Council Wales panel heard Mr Trigg-Turner claimed he had killed ‘in excess of 250 people.’
‘He may not have got his words across properly, and his words were misinterpreted, he says,’ an officer said.
In an email to the hearing, Mr Trigg Turner said: ‘I have been diligent in my transparency in all interactions with pupils. I have never crossed professional boundaries and would never do so. I feel targeted and singled out. It is not fair to be singled out.’
He is also accused of having favoured female students in his year eight class, sitting closely to one when it was not necessary and telling another to change an exam answer.
The allegations took place while he worked on supply from January 2023, before being offered a job at school from September 2023.
The hearing was told he arrived late and left class early without agreement a number of times, and gave inconsistent explanations to colleagues about how he came to be a wheelchair user.
Ms Davies said Trigg-Turner told her and pupils that he had become disabled aged 18 or 19 after a bicycle accident in Cardiff when he was hit by a bus.
Ms Davies told the panel that he told her personally that he had served in the American Marines and then repeated this to the class in November 2023.
‘I can confirm he did state he was in the American military. He did state he still had his gun and it was in his house in Cardiff,’ she said.
‘A child asked if he had shot anyone. Scott Trigg-Turner answered yes, he had shot someone.’
She said that when the class asked if that meant he was a murderer, he replied that no, and said it was military orders.
Ms Davies added: ‘He said his code name was ‘Kill Switch’ and mentioned he was a sniper.’
Trigg-Turner, who was not at the hearing and not represented, has made no formal response to the allegations.
But the EWC hearing was told that during a school investigation, he denied having a gun in his house or saying that he did.
He said that when he was talking about the military, he was referring to family members and that his comments to the class had been misinterpreted.
The EWC hearing continues.
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