GOSSIPING pupils made it impossible for a religious education teacher

to return to work after having a baby by a Catholic priest, an

industrial tribunal heard yesterday.

The news that teacher Monika Kocanek was expecting a child by Father

Chris O'Neill had quickly spread around St Thomas More School in

Bedford.

Head teacher John McManus told the tribunal: ''There was a gathering

swell of rumour and speculation among staff and among pupils. I was

informed by staff that pupils had been asking awkward questions.''

He added: ''She could not teach because the father of the child was a

local priest, well-known in school and town. It was impossible that it

could be kept quiet.''

Asked what his reaction was when two other unmarried teachers at the

school became pregnant, Mr McManus said: ''I wouldn't say that it didn't

cause embarrassment.''

But he added: ''The women were not in the RE department and not

pregnant by a priest . . . we wished to support them.''

Mr McManus was giving evidence at the tribunal in which the RE

teacher, now Mrs O'Neill, is claiming unfair dismissal and sex

discrimination against the governors of the school and Bedfordshire

County Council.

Mrs O'Neill, 29, claims she was offered ''lumps of money'' to leave

the voluntary-aided school which has 680 pupils.

She said Father O'Neill, 40, had been given the full protection of the

Church when news of their affair broke.

He was moved from the Holy Cross Church in Bedford to a secret address

in London and then on to a therapeutic centre in Birmingham.

Their baby, Jennifer, was born on May 20, 1992. In the autumn of that

year, the couple got back together.

They married last October and now have a second child --

seven-month-old Aaron.

The tribunal continues.