Pupil suspended over 'gay teacher' web prank

A public schoolboy who put a married teacher's photograph on an Internet website with a request for gay men to "get in touch" as a prank has been suspended for a week, it emerged today.

Ashley Elliott, 17, used a computer at his school, Charterhouse in Surrey, to posted an advert saying housemaster and father-of-three Nigel Hadfield was looking for men to share "close encounters and intimate evenings".

He was caught when Charterhouse, where boarding fees are £19,080 a year, complained to the website www.thegumtree.com and it traced the offending email back to one its computers - which Ashley had to use his password to enter.

The teenager was suspended for a week and no further disciplinary action will be taken, said a spokesman for the school in Godalming.

He said: "A boy was suspended after posting inappropriate material on an Internet site concerning a master.

"There was no truth whatsoever in what was posted."

The Sun said Mr Hadfield, head of Verites House, was bombarded with emails from men who had seen the advert on the site, which is aimed at people from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa looking for friends and accommodation in the UK.

The school's spokesman stressed it was only on the website for about 12 hours before it was taken down.