An Ashford secondary school has defended its actions after a former teacher, who had previously been accused of sexual harassment, was jailed for rape.

Owen Madivani taught RE at Towers School until 2015, when he was charged with – and ultimately convicted of – raping a woman in her 30s.

The 46-year-old of Cleves Way, in South Ashford, admitted raping the woman in the early hours of Friday, June 5, 2015.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard how Madivani was also accused of the attempted rape and sexual assault of another woman in her 40s but the jury was instructed by the judge to find Madivani not guilty of these charges.

In a report by the Daily Mail, teaching union members accused the school of failing to handle complaints and assault allegations seriously – but the school strongly denies any failures.

A statement from Faversham Road School said: "Owen Madivani was a teacher at the Towers School but has not been in the school since 2015.

"The school and its leadership were shocked to learn that he had been accused of, and ultimately convicted of, rape.

"Although the woman concerned was not a member of staff from our school, our thoughts remain with her.

"The school and its leadership were shocked to learn that he had been accused of, and ultimately convicted of, rape" - statement from Towers School

"Under a previous leadership, a female member of staff raised an allegation that Mr Madivani had harassed her.

"The school and other professional organisations including her union immediately supported her to report the incident to the police. The matter did not go any further.

"The school, and Mr Billings, have received no complaints or concerns from teaching unions over dealings with this – or any situation.

"In fact, Towers pride themselves on having a good working relationship with the unions.

"In the Daily Mail, Mr Billings is reported as sending an email to staff asking them ‘not to discuss’ the matter with anyone.

"However, their conclusion that this was an attempt to ‘cover it up’ was an inaccurate assumption.

"Mr Billings was clear that his intention was to protect the staff by ensuring that he dealt with any difficult and upsetting questions or phonecalls.

"It is unfortunate that the paper has chosen to attempt to vilify a well thought-of community school in the name of sensationalism by writing a story based on a series of unsupported assumptions."

Madivani was arrested by the Met Police the day after the incident and finally pleaded guilty to one count of rape at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday, December 16.

On Thursday, January 12, he was sentenced to two years and 10 months behind bars and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely.

Acting Detective Sergeant Paula Hill, the officer in the case, said: "I would like to pay tribute to the victim who had the courage to quickly report this distressing assault to police.

"I hope the sentence handed down by the Judge will bring her some semblance of closure and enable her to move on with her life."