Teacher struck off for faking her own death is back teaching
Lara Simpson(Image: Facebook/Thurso Parkrun)A teacher who faked her own death and duped people into believing she had cancer is still privately teaching children.The woman, who was known only as "Teacher F" in documents published by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), spent more than two years convincing colleagues, parents, and pupils that she was battling terminal leukaemia at a primary school.She was unmasked by the Mail on Sunday as 26-year-old Lara Simpson from Thurso in the Highlands, the Record reports.Her deception began in May 2021 when she told colleagues she had been diagnosed with cancer and was starting chemotherapy. From there, the lies escalated at remarkable speed.She shaved her head and bought a wig to mimic the effects of treatment. She would vanish for days at a time, telling staff she was in intensive care and began sending detailed “health updates” while posing as her own mother.The deceit grew ever more elaborate as she appeared at school using crutches, a wheelchair, breathing tubes and even a prosthetic leg, claiming the cancer had spread and required an amputation.By early 2022, Simpson falsely told colleagues that her cancer was incurable and doctors had given her just six months to live. In a deeply unsettling twist, she told pupils she wanted to spend her “final months” getting married and even gifted a bridesmaid dress to one of the children in her class.Lara Simpson(Image: Facebook/Thurso Parkrun)Her fabricated illness became woven into the daily life of the school. Staff and pupils waved to an air ambulance she claimed to be travelling in, dropped off presents at a hospice where she said she was receiving care, and watched emotional video messages she circulated — including one titled “I Miss My Life,” in which she pretended to be undergoing treatment.The web of lies reached a shocking climax on March 18, 2023, when Simpson, posing as her aunt, emailed school staff claiming she had died after “losing her battle with cancer”.The ruse unravelled months later when a former colleague spotted photos of her alive and well on a local Parkrun Facebook page in Thurso.The General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS) allowed her identity to be concealed but earlier this month revealed she had been banned from classrooms. The GTCS concluded Simpson had engaged in “chronic and elaborate deception” and was “unfit to teach”.A former colleague spotted photos of her alive and well on a local Parkrun Facebook(Image: Facebook/Thurso Parkrun)The Mail on Sunday has revealed Simpson was reportedly found to be running a dance school LAS Collective for children as young as three.Parents of children at the dance school were reportedly unaware of her previous web of lies.One former colleague said: “Everyone who knows her has been left gobsmacked and angry. For her to still be working with children is shocking.”Simpson denied everything when approached by the Mail on Sunday, saying only: “That’s not me.”The GTCS also said it could not comment on individual cases, but added that revealing the teacher’s identity could “undermine the fairness and integrity of the regulatory process” and “cause real harm to both children and adults”.
