A teacher wrote exam essays for students after failing to teach them a key part of their subject, a disciplinary panel has heard.

Pupils claimed that Colin Cairns fabricated standard grade poetry essays without their knowledge and sent them away to examiners.

The 51-year-old English teacher at Crieff High School denied the charges when he appeared before the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) panel on Thursday.

Mr Cairns is accused of including essays on poetry in the Standard Grade English portfolios for two of his former pupils that he knew was not their work on March 17, 2010.

He is further accused of submitting essays on 'The Pied Piper' and 'The Ruined City' to the school's principal English teacher for submission to the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA).

Mr Cairns could be struck off the teaching register if the allegations against him are proved.

A pupil from Mr Cairn's standard grade class told the panel she had approached her teacher after realising she did not have a poetry piece for her English portfolio and he told her he would "deal with it".

She said the next time she saw her portfolio it included an essay on 'The Pied Piper', a poem she had not studied, which was not written in her handwriting.

A second student told GTCS solicitor Niall Mclean: "I didn't have an essay and then when I got my folio there was an essay in it I haven't done."

Mr Cairns, who is representing himself, suggested that other people had access to his upboard while he was away from the school.

He told the panel that he believes that witnesses, and their statements had been "tampered with" and that there was a "third party involved".

The hearing continues.