Pupil 'creeped out' by school welfare officer

A school health and welfare officer left a pupil feeling “creeped out” after putting her over his shoulder in a “fireman’s lift”, a court has heard.

Neil Beckett, 43, of Kilmore near Crossgar in County Down is accused of 29 sex offences against teenage girls.

Appearing on trial before Belfast Crown Court, he denies all the charges against him.

Mr Beckett was working at Lagan College in south Belfast at the time of some of the alleged offences.

The charges span a decade—between 2013 and 2023—and involve 11 alleged victims, nine of whom were pupils at Lagan College.

Two other victims were teenage Army cadets at a time when, prior to taking up his role at the school, Mr Beckett was an Army cadet leader.

Among the charges against him is an allegation of rape by one of the Army cadet complainants.

In court today, a former pupil at Lagan College said she frequently visited Mr Beckett’s office when she was having issues in her school or personal life.

“He was great to talk to. It felt more like a friend than a teacher that I could rant to about whoever or whatever,” she said.

But on one occasion she said she was left feeling “creeped out” and “shocked” after he lifted her into the air.

She said she and a friend had been discussing plans for their school formal with Mr Beckett in his office, when she joked that she “might get a bit too drunk” and “end up being carried out of there”.

“He lifted me up and showed me different ways he might carry me out, explaining he was going to save me if I got drunk,” she told the court via video link.

“He came over and sort of swept me off my feet in like a princess hold. A few seconds later, he put me down and showed me how he would carry me over his shoulder like a fireman’s lift.

“He put me over his shoulder and had his arms under my butt.”

She said she was “nervous up there”, adding: “I couldn’t get myself back down. My skirt was riding up and that didn’t seem to bother him.”

The complainant described another alleged interaction with the defendant at her school formal.

She told the court she had said hello to Mr Beckett at the event and commented on the price of the drinks.

“He said he wished he could buy me a drink but he knows he’s not allowed to,” she said.

“He took a fiver out of his pocket and gave it to me… he said I could use it to buy myself a drink from him but not to tell anybody.”

The complainant described another occasion in school on which she said the defendant invited her to his office for a coffee and a chat.

She said despite having felt uncomfortable following their previous interactions, she agreed.

“As we were talking, I could see him not talking to me, but talking to my legs,” she said.

She also described "a big embracing hug" that she alleges Mr Beckett gave her during another interaction.

"I noticed as he had his arms around me that his arms were moving down my back to my butt," she told the court.

Under cross-examination, a defence barrister for Mr Beckett told the complainant he denied having “any physical contact” with her.

The defence barrister told the complainant that the hug "didn't happen", to which the complainant said it did.

"I was there, I don't have any reason to lie about it," she said.

"I know it happened. I confided in my best friend about it."

The barrister said Mr Beckett's position was that he had “no memory of being alone” with the complainant in his office.

The barrister said Mr Beckett would have found it “very difficult” to lift the complainant in the way that she described because he had a “weakness in his arm and he wears a cast”.

The complainant rejected this, telling the court: “He was quite easily able to pick me up and hold me up for a number of seconds.”

The barrister added that there had been gossip in the school about Mr Beckett and that the complainant had made up her claims to involve herself.

"I'm going to suggest there was a load of gossip and you decided to make this up and be part of the scandal as you saw it," she said.

The complainant rejected this saying she "lived through" the events she had described, adding: "I've been made to feel uncomfortable by a trusted person in the school who was there for my welfare."

The trial continues.