A disgraced teacher who lost her job after being discovered half naked with a 17-year-old pupil in a layby has launched a National Lottery funded support group for fellow sex offenders and criminals.
Eppie Sprung, now 37, was handed £7,530 through a National Lottery Community Fund grant to set up the website for her project where she hopes to allow offenders in Scotland to 'share their experiences' and 'navigate discrimination'.
Revealing how her life has been impacted after being convicted of being a sex offender, Sprung wrote in her blog: 'Hi! I'm Eppie. Mum, wife, daughter, sister, friend, volunteer, business owner and sex offender.
'That's not something that's comfortable to write and it's certainly not something that's comfortable to live with!
'But here we are. I made a series of bad decisions a long time ago that hurt a lot of people and that led to me living with the title of "sex offender" for the rest of my life.'
Former English teacher Sprung, who then went by her married name Sprung Dawson, admitted having sex with Matthew Robinson, after offering the dyslexic pupil help with lessons at Catholic St Joseph's College in Dumfries, Scotland.
She was caught by police having sex with him and naked from the waist down in the front seat of her car in a layby after she had driven the boy out to the countryside from a school dance that they had both attended.
Sprung was struck off from teaching after it came to light and it ended her two year marriage to husband Ranald, a lecturer.
She then moved her young lover into her marital home - leaving his family furious. They later broke up in 2015.
Sprung, who has since reinvented herself as a business consultant, was struck off by the General Teaching Council For Scotland (GTCS) in Edinburgh after being found unfit to teach. She was not present at the hearing, but in a statement read to the GTCS panel, she agreed to being struck off and admitted having sex with Mr Robinson.
Sprung Dawson pleaded guilty in July 2013 to sexual activity with a person under 18 while she was in a position of trust as his teacher.
The convicted sex offender avoided jail after her conviction and was given a six-month community payback order which required her to take a course of psycho-sexual counselling.
She has now founded and is the chair of Next Chapter Scotland, which aims to help people with criminal records 'navigate any discrimination they may face'.
On her blog she wrote: 'I started Next Chapter Scotland because I feel passionately about people with criminal records sharing their experiences: to help others to find a way through their own challenges; and to help anyone without a criminal record to understand the lifelong impact a criminal record can have.'
She has also written posts complaining about needing to pay more for home and motorbike insurance and being banned from Facebook and AirBnb due to her conviction.
Sprung announced last month that her organisation has received a grant from The National Lottery Community Fund, and that she will use the money to develop its website and social media presence. Next Chapter have advertised for help, offering a £5,000 budget.
The group says they plan to move from being an unincorporated association to a charity in the coming months are are recruiting charity trustees. Sprung has said he wants half the board to 'either have a criminal record or a family member with a criminal record'.
A National Lottery Community Fund spokeswoman told The Mirror: 'This project has received a £7530 grant to set up a website where people in Scotland with previous criminal convictions can access practical information and advice to help them move on with their lives and make a more positive contribution to society.'
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