Teacher recruited dinner lady to help steal pupil’s phone
A former reality TV star who became a teacher recruited a student and a dinner lady to help him steal a phone from a pupil, a court heard.
Lewis Hepworth, 29, appeared in ITV’s The Only Way Is Essex in 2017 and Channel Four’s Coach Trip in 2018.
Hepworth, who has a diamond tattoo behind his left ear, was Head of Year 11 and child development teacher until he was arrested for allegedly stalking a 16-year-old pupil.
He was accused of sending messages to the teenager and turning up at their family home but the stalking charge was withdrawn.
Hepworth then ‘hatched a plan’ to steal the complainant’s phone after his dismissal at the school in Harrow, Snaresbrook Crown Court hward.
Prosecutor Bethany Hutchinson explained: ‘The students had their phones in a box. The plan with the second student was she would steal the phone from the box.
‘There was also a dinner lady involved in this plan. The plan, it appears, is that the student would steal it from the box and then the dinner lady would pick the phone from the hedge.
‘I don’t know what has come of the dinner lady but that’s what happened.’
After the student noticed their phone was missing, the school reviewed CCTV showing the other pupil taking the phone from the box.
Ms Hutchinson called for a jail sentence to be passed as Lewis abused his position of trust as a teacher and involved another student in his crime.
‘This was a leading role in a group. He enlisted the help of a student and a dinner lady,’ she said.
Tim Bass, defending, said Hepworth had a ‘history of dealing with troubled children’ but ‘went too far’.
‘He did get involved in the complainant’s affairs, and family affairs.
‘But he was trying to assist those involved. This particular relationship went particularly sour.
‘This defendant was calling the police about messages he had received.
‘The reason for taking the phone was to stop any more messages reaching him and his family.’
The judge, Mr Recorder Tom Forster KC warned Hepworth: ‘I have decided to order a pre-sentence report in your case as I think this is a finely balanced decision. All options remain open.’
Hepworth, of Archer Close, Barnet, denied but was convicted of theft.
He was bailed with an electronic GPS tag and a condition not to contact the victim.
His credits include films Hello Au Revoir (2021), 100 Balfour Road (2017), and TV appearances on Judge Rinder (2018) and gameshow Cannonball (2017).
Hepworth appeared on Coach Trip: Road to Tenerife with his boyfriend Adam in 2018.
According to Companies House records he was a director of LDNTV Ltd in 2019 – a media and entertainment business focused on talent shows and singing competitions. The company was later dissolved.
ENDS
