Benson-Pope interviewed by police

Former Associate Education Minister David Benson-Pope was interviewed by Dunedin police yesterday as part of their inquiry into claims he assaulted pupils when he was a teacher at Dunedin's Bayfield High.

The file would be forwarded to the legal section at police headquarters where a decision about any charges was likely to be made with the Commissioner of Police.

Allegations were made in Parliament this year that Mr Benson-Pope struck a pupil and stuffed a tennis ball in another student's mouth.