Wales News Service
An 'attention-seeking' teacher pretended to have cancer and persuaded her colleagues to have tests to donate their bone marrow to her.
Samantha Scrine, who was dismissed from Gowerton Comprehensive School in Swansea last year for gross misconduct, even gave colleagues a funeral plan and a CD of songs she wanted played.
Appearing before the General Teaching Council for Wales in Cardiff, Ms Scrine admitted four of the charges against her and accepted that her behaviour amounted to unacceptable professional conduct.
However, she disputes that she acted 'dishonestly'.
Presenting officer Louise Price told the panel that in October 2012, Ms Scrine informed her line manager that she had been diagnosed with cancer after finding a lump in her stomach.
She claimed there was no treatment available and she was not sure how long she had left to live.
She told the school she had arranged her chemotherapy and radiotherapy appointments for outside of school hours, but arrangements were made to reduce her timetable and cover her classes.
Two months later, she told her colleagues that she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, which she subsequently admitted was untrue.
The committee heard that in December 2012, Ms Scrine faked a letter from her mother, asking one of her colleagues to look after her at the Christmas party.
The colleague began to receive regular text messages from her mother, which were really written by Ms Scrine herself.
The teacher also gave a colleague an envelope containing arrangements for her funeral, including a CD of songs to be played in church and a slideshow.
A few months later, she told her colleagues that the cancer had spread and she needed a bone marrow transplant.
Several teachers offered to be donors and provided DNA swabs to establish their compatibility.
Ms Scrine then faked letters from Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, thanking her colleagues for the samples, before later claiming another donor had been found.
In May last year, she arrived at school with a stent attached to her chest and asked for help adjusting the equipment.
A month later, two members of staff made contact with her real mother, who said she knew nothing about the cancer diagnosis and informed the school on June 9 that her daughter had suffered a breakdown.
In a witness statement read out at the hearing, one teacher claimed she and her colleagues had received more than 500 texts from Ms Scrine and said they had been 'victims of attention-seeking bullying'.
Another teacher added: "I could not believe the depths of the deceit."
Ms Price told the panel the school had been forced to arrange 230 hours of cover at a cost of nearly £6,000.
Ms Scrine will give evidence in private, after the panel judged her to be a 'vulnerable witness'.
Her representative Angharad Booker said she was clinically depressed at the time and was suffering from serious anxiety brought on by stress.
The hearing continues.