Stressed headteacher 'fled to escape school pressure'

A police search for a 46-year-old headteacher ended yesterday when it was discovered that he had fled to the Lake District to escape the pressures of an impending Ofsted inspection.

Mick Ironmonger, who has two children, had been missing since he set off on Monday for Norton Thorpe Hall at Scissett, near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, where he was to meet government assessors.

His wife, Lesley, said this, combined with the notification of his school's Oftsed inspection, had put him under huge pressure. Instead of travelling to work from their home in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, Mr Ironmonger drove his car 100 miles north to Ambleside, where the family has a caravan. Mrs Ironmonger pleaded for her husband to return home, and officers from the Greater Manchester, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire police forces spent two days searching the Pennines for his car. Mrs Ironmonger, 43, said: "It just goes to show the effect these Ofsted inspections can have. I don't think people realise how much pressure they can put teachers under. [He] just took off with no regard for us. I don't think it crossed his mind for one minute what he had done – he was oblivious."

Mr Ironmonger joined Norton Thorpe, which caters for children with emotional difficulties, in January 2001. An inspection in March 2001 found that although he had built on improvements made at the school, it still suffered "serious weaknesses". Another Ofsted inspection was due this year.

The workload that such scrutiny brings can be immense. The pressures of being a deputy head were blamed for Patrick Stack, who was appointed MBE for his work in education, killing himself in 2001.