No, though I used to walk home with him occasionally having a chat.
We all knew Fred had a bit of history with his star gazing club. One of my friends was at Altrincham Grammar when he taught there, and while he was popular as a teacher, he also thought he was a bit strange. He recalled to me one lesson when he was about 13 years old, and they spent the hour discussing skinny dipping!
The thing with Fred was he had his regular boyfriend with him and he never hit on anyone. He was with his friends, he wasn't ever pissed, sitting by the toilet door waiting to pounce on a young lad, and it was just rumours about him at the time.
I'm not condoning what he did at all, as he had deeply affected the lives of countless individuals in his care, and we didn't know the details, but Michael Lavelle was a bigger problem than Fred ever was.
He was a thoroughly unpleasant argumentative twat who was always pissed out of his head, coked up and not someone you wanted to engage in conversation with.
I still remember the screams of the barstaff, though, when those bags of crisps started flying out of their boxes.