FORMER Springfields Academy headteacher Trystan Williams has spoken publicly for the first time about the incident that led to him being suspended.

He spoke out as he told of his fears that teachers are at risk of suffering like he did unless rules on pupil restraint are clarified and applied more consistently.

In an interview with BBC’s Newsnight on Monday, Mr Williams’ long-running battle was an example of the worst case scenario facing teachers who need to restrain pupils.

Mr Williams was suspended from his role as headteacher of Springfields Academy in Calne after an alleged assault of a pupil in October 2013. A year later, the Crown Prosecution Service, said that no charges would be brought against him.

He said: “I attempted to lift a young man up and in the process of trying to lift the young man up off the floor he pulled me down on top of him and he sustained an injury.

“I was in the room alone with the child and under the circumstances sadly all the external agencies felt I had assaulted the young man.

“I just thought I had winded him really, I had no idea the catastrophic events that were going to happen.”

Since having his name cleared, Mr Williams has taken up a new role as headteacher at Grafham Grange School in Surrey which offers provision for young boys with social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

“To have that dignity ripped away from you for simply trying to do your best actually drove me to consider whether I should still be here,” Mr Williams added.

“And when that happens actually you think I’ve sacrificed a lot for transforming lives and this is the way I get treated for trying to do my best and that’s quite difficult to come to terms with.

“My wife needed support and my boys ended up having psychiatric counselling and help because they couldn’t sleep at night, they didn’t want to go to bed in case Daddy got locked up.

“That could happen to anybody in any school similar to mine; wrong place, wrong time, complex situation trying to do your best, and your life will never be the same again.”

Department for Education guidance states that 90 per cent of investigations into teachers using restraint should be completed inside three months but figures from 2011 say that only 74 per cent of cases met this target.