Former Bingley teacher banned for sending hundreds of personal emails to pupil

A teacher who sent more than 500 personal emails to a pupil has been banned from classrooms indefinitely.

Matthew Kelly, 48, sent the emails between September 2019 and January 2020 while he was teaching at Beckfoot School, in Bingley, West Yorkshire.

A teaching panel heard the messages, many of which were sent at evenings, weekends and during school holidays, included conversations about his personal life, his drinking and complaints about his marriage.

One exchange on the evening of 24 January into the early hours of 25 January, Kelly started the conversation by sending a wink emoji. He then went on to discuss how many pints he had drunk that night stating it was "just a bit more than five."

In another conversation, Kelly sent the pupil a picture of a lottery ticket and told her he would share his winnings with her.

The hearing took place in Kelly's absence but in written submissions he explained that he had been asked to check in on the pupil regularly because of her personal circumstances.

He said that the emails were to show that the pupil wasn't alone and that the school did care about her.

Kelly also said the drunken email thread was as a result of him seeing some of the pupil's friends, but that he had recognised it had gone too far and apologised to the pupil the next day.

The panel found that, while there were circumstances where out-of-hours contact was required with a pupil, it "did not consider that any of the exchanges referred to within the allegations constituted a situation in which contact was required".

Kelly was also found to have downloaded a number of images of children which police said, while not illegal, could "indicate an interest in the sexual abuse of children."

Some showed females who "appeared to be of pre-teen age or did not appear to have hit pubescent stage" performing sex acts.

The allegations about Kelly's emails first came to light in January 2020 when two sixth form students raised concerns about his conversations with the pupil on a Friday night.

An investigation was launched by the school the next month and it referred the case to the Teaching Regulation Agency.

Kelly resigned from his role on 29 February 2020 and was interviewed by West Yorkshire Police in March 2020.

At the teaching panel on 29 November 2023, Kelly was banned from teaching indefinitely meaning he cannot teach at any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...