A RELIGIOUS studies teacher at Ayr's largest secondary school faces being struck off the teaching register amid accusations of anti-Semitic social media posts.

Edward Sutherland, who was employed by South Ayrshire Council as principal teacher for religious and moral education at Belmont Academy at the time of the allegations, is said to have set up a fake Facebook account under the alias ‘Stevie Harrison’ to share the offensive messages.

A General Teaching Council (GTC) hearing assessing his fitness to teach is due to begin next week (April 5).

The allegations against Mr Sutherland include: "On September 25, 2018, [he did] share a post from a Facebook user, Person A, which stated 'Back after 30 day ban! My first thought? F**k “Israel”'.

"On October 4, 2018, [he did] post 'Someone complained to Facebook about me not using my real name. I don’t know WTF they are up to, but there it is on my profile. Stevie Harrison. If you want my birth certificate, just say. If I lose my job because some Zionist doesn’t like me supporting the people of Palestine, don’t worry about it. I’ll still have my dignity. The see you next Tuesday who complained won’t have. Rant over'.

"On October 25, 2018, [he did] post 'I’ve seen it all now. Zio p***k’s asking for donations. Should be in the f*****g jail for all the stuff he’s done' whilst sharing the link to a JustGiving page raising money for a Jewish solicitor who was personally known to the teacher."

The teacher is also accused of posting "Free Palestine ya b*****d” and “Looks like a certain Zio’s big nose is out of joint" in separate online slurs.

A further post, accompanied by several laughing emojis, said: "Zio p***k’s been a bad boy. All these Muslims he claims to employ and two of his lawyers are done for drink driving.”

Finally, around January 2019, a post from the fake account read: “A certain Jewish lawyer woke up this morning to find Free Palestine painted rather prominently”, or words to that effect.

The GTC states that the "material posted by the teacher was of an anti-Semitic nature", and Mr Sutherland could lose his job pending the outcome of the upcoming hearing.

It is alleged that his fitness to teach is impaired and he is unfit to teach, as a result of breaching several parts of the GTC Scotland code of professionalism and conduct.