On the run Enoch Burke comes out of hiding to rant outside Wilson's Hospital School
Enoch Burke speaks outside Wilson's Hospital School.Enoch Burke, who has been on the run, came out of hiding to rant outside of Wilson's Hospital School.On Tuesday, Mr. Justice Brian Cregan ordered that the sacked schoolteacher be arrested and committed to prison.Gardai have turned up to his house in Mayo on at least two occasions since then to arrest him.But Enoch, who is from a family of well-known Christian fundamentalists, finally broke cover and posted a video outside the gates of Wilson's Hospital School in Westmeath.It remains unclear if the video was recorded on Friday or on a different day.In the rambling three-and-a-half-minute outburst, Burke accused Mr Justice Cregan of defaming him; he also hit out at leaders of the Catholic Church and Church of Ireland for allowing LGBTQ+ awareness week to be staged at their schools.In a video posted to social media, Enoch said: "I'm standing outside Wilson's Hospital School, where I've worked for as I said before for the last seven years, since 2018, you saw that judgment this week from Judge Brian Cregan, jail again for the fourth time."He went on to say that during the judgment, there was a "very serious attack" on his character before adding: "I have served God and this school with a good conscience for the past seven years."Enoch Burke speaks outside Wilson's Hospital School.Enoch also seemed to accept he was heading back to jail for the fourth time. To date, Enoch has spent 513 days in Mountjoy Prison for breaching court orders.He continued: "Back to jail because I will not succumb to transgender ideology, back to jail for the fourth time."He also hit out at the raising of a "Transgender Pride Flag" in schools across Ireland and said they had the morals of "sodom and gomorrah" before adding "every student, forced, told 'you must celebrate this'".Enoch later referred to “being taken away in a prison van for the fourth time”.And said he has received an “outpouring of support from thousands” of people since the judgment earlier this week.Mr Justice Cregan described Mr Burke as “a baleful and malign presence – an intruder, stalking the school, its teachers and its pupils”.He also said Enoch's “aggression, unregulated anger and lack of self-control, combined with his strategy of confrontation, make him a potential danger to pupils and teachers of the school”.Enoch is being jailed for repeatedly breaching an injunction to stay away from school. He was previously employed as a German and history teacher before he was sacked for gross misconduct in January 2023.Despite his dismissal, Enoch continued to attend the school. The school even resorted to hiring private security guards to keep him off the premises.The row started in 2022 when staff were asked to call a transgender student by a new name and use the they/them pronouns.Enoch refused the request on religious grounds and publicly clashed with the school's management.Despite his appearance outside the school, it appears he was not arrested by Gardai.A Garda spokesman told The Irish Mirror: "An Garda Síochána has received a Court order relating to contempt of Court by an individual."An Garda Síochána does not comment on the detail of ongoing operations."Garda have been to Enoch's house in Mayo, on several occasions since Tuesday but his family refused to give up his whereabouts.Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
