Maths teacher banned for inappropriate chat room messages
A teacher who admitted he chatted online about incest has been banned from the profession indefinitely.
Paul Allan was a supply and maths teacher at different times between December 2014 and August 2017 at Bishop Stopford School in Kettering.
A panel heard Mr Allan had talked about incest with members of an adult chatroom including an undercover police officer.
The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) found his conduct had been “of a sexual nature and sexually motivated” and that his views were “fundamentally incompatible with the safeguarding of children”.
He was arrested in June 2017 and suspended from working at the school on the same day.
Mr Allan told the TRA panel he “lent a sympathetic but discouraging ear” to paedophiles online.
He said he had “never imagined that online users” were ever chatting about real children.
The panel found he had “no perception that his behaviour could encourage the abuse of children”.
Mr Allan was made the subject of a Sexual Risk Order in May 2021, the TRA’s papers state.
According to the CPS, the orders are usually made against someone who has not been convicted or cautioned for an offence but is “thought to pose a risk of harm to the public”.
The TRA concluded Mr Allan’s behaviour “fell significantly short of the standard of behaviour expected of a teacher” and said if he was allowed to teach again it “could potentially damage the public’s perception” of the profession.
It struck him off the teaching register following a hearing in December, and the papers from that were published for the first time on Monday.
The TRA said while there was “no evidence of any child having been harmed by Mr Allan’s conduct”, he was at risk of encouraging harm.
A spokesperson for Bishop Stopford School said: “When a concern of this nature is raised, the academy takes swift action in line with our safeguarding policies and procedures.
These policies are updated regularly in line with statutory guidance from the Department for Education.
“All of our staff and governors are trained to identify and report safeguarding concerns. The safety of every child in our community will always be of paramount importance.”
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