POLICE will take no further action against a suspended Chepstow headteacher following a five-month investigation, it was announced yesterday.

Mounton House Special School headteacher Paul Absalom, who was suspended following an alleged assault on a teenage pupil, will remain suspended until Monmouthshire council has completed its own investigation.

Earlier this month, we reported how Mr Absalom was suspended after the alleged incident at the school on June 29.

Yesterday, Gwent Police said the Crown Prosecution Service had advised there be no further criminal investigation and the council began its own enquiries into the incident.

The National Union of Headteachers (NAHT), which is representing Mr Absalom, said it was “delighted” with Gwent Police’s decision - but hit out at the amount of time the force took to complete its investigation.

NAHT regional officer for Wales, Anne Hovey, said: “We remain concerned and dissatisfied at the inordinate and unreasonable length of time it has taken to reach this decision.

“The toll on the health, well-being and professional good name of a headteacher, and that of a teacher where relevant, is potentially compromised by such intolerable delays.”

She called for a watchdog to review cases and step in if unacceptable delays occur.

“Clearly, some complex cases will take time and we both accept and understand that fact,” she added.

“However, most cases, such as that of Mr Absalom, are not complex and it is those cases that need tackling in terms of delay.”

A Gwent Police spokeswoman said: “We will always conduct a thorough investigation and if anyone has any concerns, we will be happy to discuss it with them directly.”

A Monmouthshire council spokesman said the authority did not know how long its investigation would take but it would be “as soon as possible”, and that it is standard practise to wait for police to finish their investigation before the authority begins its own so that the police inquiries are not compromised.

Mounton House Special School caters for around 40 boys, who are aged between 11 and 16 and suffer from complex behavioural, social or emotional difficulties.

Among the problems pupils suffer from are attention deficit hyperactivity disorders and learning difficulties.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Why did probe take so long?

WE CAN'T quite understand why a police investigation into an allegation of assault by a pupil has taken so long to conclude that no action will be taken against the head teacher involved.

It was five months ago that a pupil of Mounton House School in Chepstow alleged he had been assaulted by head teacher Paul Absalom.

Naturally police were called in to investigate.

But five months seems to us an inordinately long time for such an investigation.

We wonder how many people needed to be interviewed before police decided whether or not to take this forward to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Meanwhile the school, which deals with 40 boys with complex emotional, behavioural or social problems, has been operating without a headteacher.

Further, a shadow has been cast over the career of a headteacher who is still suspended from work.

And parents must be left wondering what on earth is going on.

We realise the police have to fully investigate the claims, but we agree with the union representing Mr Absalom that the length of time involved in this instance seems to be disproportionate.

Mr Absalom of course must wait even longer now for Monmouthshire county council to decide whether it believes there is any case to answer.