A former CedarBridge Academy teacher told yesterday how working at the school destroyed his health and led him to believe he was "heading for the grave".

Leonard Tucker, who is preparing to move to the US to seek medical help, is the first staff member allegedly made sick at the senior school to talk publicly about his illness.

The substitute science teacher agreed to be named by The Royal Gazette after a damning report was leaked to our sister paper, the Mid-Ocean News, which reported that the school — shut down a year ago for two months due to mould infestation — was also riddled with cockroaches and other vermin.

"When I saw Friday's paper I thought 'enough is enough'," said the 58-year-old diabetic. "I still can't understand why the administration would allow us to come into the school knowing full well that there were problems.

"It would be different it there was ignorance but they knew. They sent in faculty and we end up having all types of crazy situations. I started looking like somebody who was dying. Where does the buck stop?"

The report by S. Harris & Co. architectural technology consultants, which reveals the cockroach infestation, was submitted to Government in February this year but has never been made public.

A request by this newspaper to see the document has been ignored by the Ministry of Education and refused by S. Harris & Co.

Bermudian Mr. Tucker, who lived in the States for 37 years before returning to the Island and joining CedarBridge in September 2004, said its contents were no surprise to him since he saw filthy conditions in the cafeteria every day.

"Many times I'd go near the cafeteria and watch how the kids throw food around the place and stamp it in," he said.

The father-of-three's health problems began last autumn when he started teaching in the classrooms of Ulama Finn-Hendrickson — the teacher suing Government for allegedly stopping her wages after she became too ill to go to work — and another staff member who was off sick.

Ms Finn-Hendrickson and the other teacher both claim mould at the Devonshire campus was to blame for their illness.

Mr. Tucker said: "I noticed that I was having difficulty breathing and lost the zeal and the drive to do. I'd walk up a hill and I had to stop.

"I couldn't even do one push up and generally I could normally do 40 straight off. I lost a lot of weight.

"I got so bad I didn't think I was going to make it to my daughter's graduation in May this year in the United States. I just got as sick as an old horse.

"I was in the emergency ward seven times. Most of the time either during class I'd have to leave the campus or after school sometimes I'd head straight to the hospital.

"I couldn't figure out why I was having such a struggle. I had to fight for breath. I'm a diabetic so my immune system was somewhat compromised but I had never had respiration problems. I felt like I was heading to the grave."

In March this year, the Allergy Clinic confirmed he was allergic to aspergillus — one of the moulds found by experts in the school — and other fungi.

Mr. Tucker said he was moved to different rooms but the damage was done.

He left the school in June and he and his American wife have now decided to move to Illinois, where Mr. Tucker believes he will receive better medical assistance.

He estimates that between 12 and 15 staff members at CedarBridge — the Island's largest public school — have suffered health problems but most are too frightened to speak out.

"I sincerely believe that the leadership — the Ministry and school — has not done the things that would ensure a safe environment," he said. "They have known about this situation since 2002 but in 2006 they decided to address it after so many of my colleagues have been bitten by the snake.