The former police chief who led the official inquiry into the “Trojan Horse” schools scandal has accused the government of “betrayal” after it decided to give the alleged leaders of the plot the names and testimony of his confidential witnesses.
Sources who were promised anonymity received emails last month informing them that their identities and the full transcripts of their private evidence would be released to five of the alleged Trojan Horse ringleaders on Tuesday and made public.
The five are accused of conspiring to impose an “intolerant and aggressive Islamic ethos” on several Muslim-majority schools in Birmingham. They could be banned from teaching if the allegations are upheld.
Last week, several witnesses contacted The Sunday Times to express concerns that the move would put their careers and perhaps even personal safety at risk.
The Trojan Horse plot, which was exposed by this newspaper, led to six schools being placed in special measures, with their leadership and governors removed.
An official inquiry by Peter Clarke, a former assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, took evidence from dozens of people, including serving staff and governors at the schools.
Almost all the Muslim witnesses requested, and were granted, anonymity.
Commenting on the decision to release the names and evidence, Clarke said: “I have been contacted by several people who spoke to me. I am appalled that promises of confidentiality — made in good faith with the full knowledge of government lawyers — are seemingly now to be cast aside.
“Why would anyone come forward in similar circumstances in future if their trust is to be betrayed in this way?”
The five alleged plotters — Razwan Faraz, Hardeep Saini, Arshad Hussain, Monzoor Hussain and Lindsey Clark — are the subject of hearings at the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL), the teachers’ disciplinary body, which is part of the Department for Education.
Lawyers for the five applied on December 20 for full disclosure of the testimony given to Clarke, even though it does not form part of the evidence against them. The NCTL said it would comply.
One of those who gave evidence to Clarke said: “I received an email on December 22, with one working day to go before Christmas, telling me that my name and testimony will be released on the first day back after the holiday and giving me no say in the matter.
“This is a nightmare. I am deeply worried for my safety and there are wider implications. If this happens, no government will be able to act against a repetition of this plot because nobody will ever talk to them again.”
In closed groups on the WhatsApp messaging tool, Faraz, the former deputy head of one of the schools implicated in the Trojan Horse scandal, wrote that he was pursuing an “Islamising agenda” in the schools.
He also expressed the view that a woman’s place is “in the kitchen . . . a perpetual role serving men” and condemned Muslims who raised money for the military charity Help for Heroes as “Uncle Toms”.
Faraz has always insisted that he is not an extremist but The Sunday Times revealed in November that he had been using a Facebook account under a false name in which he described those who had expressed solidarity with the victims of the Nice terrorist attack as “idiots”.
Another of the teachers appearing before the NCTL is Monzoor Hussain, the former head of Park View school where boys and girls were segregated and an extremist speaker was invited to address pupils. Children who did not pray were told they were not proper Muslims and the school’s syllabus was restricted in line with “conservative Islamic teaching”.
A spokesman for the education department declined to comment on the decision to release the names.