Leigh UTC school Dartford slammed over Apple iPhone theft

Dartford schoolboy Finley Easthorpe, 12, received a brand new iPhone 15 as a Christmas present, said his dad Lawrence.

His parents thought it would help keep him safe as he could call them if ever he needed them and they could use the device to track his location.

But it was stolen from his pocket weeks later during a lesson at the Leigh University Technical College (UTC) in Brunel Way.

Despite reporting the theft while the lesson was still going on, the teacher told Finley it was “not important” and then let everybody, including the thief, leave for the day, Mr Easthorpe alleged.

Finley’s parents bought the phone on a payment plan, meaning they must now keep paying for it for the next two years, while Finley uses a relative’s hand-me-down instead.

“We’re paying for a brand new iPhone that we now haven’t got,” said Mr Easthorpe. “This is why I’m so upset with the school. It’s not the phone company’s fault.”

Mr Easthorpe said he was going public to warn other parents that the academy has a policy of not investigating thefts committed on its premises.

“The school have pretty much washed their hands of the incident,” he said.

“They acted as if it was Finley’s fault for having the phone, rather than the thief’s fault for stealing it. But all the kids have phones in their pockets. It’s a bit of safety.”

Leigh UTC confirmed that it had a policy of not investigating phone thefts. It claimed it broke this policy and did take action of the theft of Finley's phone - but wouldn't say what action it took (Image: Google Streetview)

Approached by the News Shopper, UTC principal Kevin Watson cited the school’s policy, which states: “The academy accepts no responsibility for personal electronic devices that are brought to the academy and takes no responsibility to investigate their misplacement, loss or theft.”

“Despite our policy, senior staff at the academy did take action in an attempt to investigate the allegation of theft, but there was insufficient evidence to conclude an offence,” Mr Watson added.

But asked what action senior staff had taken, he did not respond.

Kent Police confirmed that it is investigating the theft as a crime.

Mr Easthorpe said there was no question that the phone had been stolen.

“It was in the last class of the day, with a substitute teacher,” he said.

“Finley took the phone out of his inside pocket to check the time, then put it in the side pocket of his blazer. When he went to check the time again, it was gone.

“He alerted the stand-in teacher but he just said, ‘It’s not important, Finley, we’ll look for it at the end of the lesson’. When he mentioned it again, he repeated, ‘It’s not important, Finley’.

“He completely dismissed him. Then, at the end of the lesson, he let everyone leave.”

Mr Easthorpe found out when one of Finley’s friends phoned him and told him what had happened.

“I shot around there,” he said.

Mr Easthorpe said Leigh UTC seemed to apportion more blame to his son Finley, 12, for having a phone than to the classmate who stole it from him (Image: Lawrence Easthorpe)

Using a ‘find my phone’ tracking app on an iPad, they got within 10 yards of the stolen phone – but then the iPad’s battery ran out.

The following day, the phone travelled to north London, then back to Dartford, before disappearing. It has never reappeared on the tracking app.

“This shouldn’t be going on in school,” said Mr Easthorpe.

“Finley is a really nice, good kid. He hangs around with nice kids. I think he was targeted for that reason. But you never expect someone to go through your boy’s clothes and steal from them in a good school.

“He was absolutely gutted. We expected a bit of support from the school. A theft – a criminal activity – has happened in the school. Surely that needs to be dealt with?”

A Kent Police spokesperson said: “We received a report that a child’s mobile phone was stolen while they were at their school in Dartford on Monday, February 5, 2024. Enquiries are ongoing.”