Drunk teacher who hid gin in water bottle in class and ran off to be sick after birthday weekend struck off

A teacher who hid gin in her water bottle in class before rushing off to be sick in the staff toilet after a weekend of birthday celebrations has been struck off. English teacher Annika Kapur was slurring her words and was unsteady on her feet during a lesson at her Djanogly City Academy in Nottingham school in January 2025. Kapur told a staff member that 'this class terrifies me' and that she was holding a bottle of a 'non alcoholic drink' while teaching but could not see what was inside it. The school investigated and Kapur said she had a half filled water bottle with alcohol still in it from her birthday weekend and it was in her work bag. She said she had only drunk from it at the end of the day and realised it contained alcohol. She said she could not spit it out because children were there in the last lesson of the day. Another staff member said that a student had his head on the desk and Kapur, 30, had 'gently pulled him up from the desk with his hair'. He said she was gesticulating with her hands and swaying and was speaking in an out of character way. A Teaching Regulation Agency misconduct panel heard he asked to speak to her outside the classroom and she began to 'retch' before she was sick in the staff toilet. Staff members did not smell alcohol on her breath and Kapur said she was just 'a bit tired'. Kapur admitted unacceptable professional conduct by bringing alcohol on to school premises, drinking it and being drunk during school hours, putting pupils at risk. The panel said she drank a third of the bottle of gin and lemon knowing it tasted of booze and elected to stay in the classroom. She has been banned from teaching for two years.