RACHAEL REGAN ILLINGWORTH CALDERDALE CHILD ABUSE SENTENCE SHOCKING

In January 2015, a disturbing case of child abuse and bullying emerged from a school in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, involving a teaching assistant named Rachael Regan. Residing on Cousin Lane in Illingworth, Regan, aged 43, was found guilty of subjecting a seven-year-old girl to a series of cruel and humiliating acts within the classroom environment.

During the trial, it was revealed that Regan engaged in multiple incidents aimed at the young student, including taping her to a chair, locking her in a storeroom, and tying her shoelaces with string. The court heard how she also stuck post-it notes on the child's thumbs, called her a nickname, kicked her chair, and goaded her with a biscuit. In one particularly upsetting act, Regan tore a photograph of the girl off the wall and ripped it apart in front of her, causing significant emotional distress.

The jury was shown footage of the girl’s police interview, during which she described Regan as “not a very nice person.” The young girl explicitly stated that Regan did not like her, saying, “One thing about Class Seven is that Miss Regan doesn’t like me. Or Miss McD.” She further explained, “(Regan’s) not a very nice person. Because she likes everybody else except for me. I don’t know why she doesn’t like me.” The girl also expressed her feelings of anger, stating, “Very, very, very angry,” and described how Regan’s constant shouting made her feel.

Regarding the incident where Regan taped her to a chair, the girl told police she felt “angry” and that her classmates laughed at her during the ordeal. She described how Regan had tied string around her shoes to keep them on, which she found “horrible.” The girl admitted that she was unhappy in her original class and had found better teachers in her new class, highlighting her distress and desire to escape the abusive environment.

Other staff members at the school testified during the trial, confirming they had witnessed some of the incidents firsthand. One support assistant recounted seeing the girl’s arms “fastened down by her sides with Sellotape” on more than one occasion, with the girl taped to a chair for approximately ten minutes. Despite these testimonies, Regan and other staff members denied any bullying, claiming that some of the acts were “a joke.”

The girl’s mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described her daughter’s emotional state following the incident. She recounted how her normally “bubbly and outgoing” child clung to her “for dear life,” tears streaming down her face, after being taped to the chair. The mother expressed her heartbreak, recalling how her daughter started making excuses to avoid school, which was unusual for her. She vividly described the moment her daughter rushed out of school, hugged her tightly, and was visibly upset, saying, “It was just so heartbreaking to see her like that because she is so bubbly and outgoing and I have never seen my daughter so upset. She just clung to me for dear life.”

In sentencing, Judge Davey addressed Regan directly, stating, “You have been convicted by a jury of cruelty to a small child, in effect of bullying her to the extent that it would properly be described as cruelty.” The judge emphasized that Regan had already lost her job and would be barred from working with children in the future. He added, “You humiliated the girl, you’ve already been professionally humiliated, now you’ve been publicly humiliated,” underscoring the severity of her actions and their impact on the young victim.