Bristol paedophile banned from teaching indefinitely

Robert Hanson was a teacher at West Town Lane Academy in Brislington. His victim was not a pupil at the school

A former primary school teacher who had sex with a 14-year-old girl has been banned from the profession.

Robert Hanson, who was jailed in April 2020 for four years, was a teacher at West Town Lane Academy in Bristol. The girl was not a pupil at the school.

Hanson, 30, met the girl, who is not from Bristol, at a gaming convention.

A teaching conduct panel ruled Hanson had "shown neither insight nor remorse for his actions" and he should be banned indefinitely.

While at the convention, the Year 4 teacher had been involved in a game of "guessing the ages of the participants", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. 

A Teaching Regulatory Agency professional conduct panel heard he went on to exchange messages with the girl online before buying her a child's rail ticket to Bristol to visit him overnight.

Hanson admitted they then had sex.

Hanson, who was 27 at the time, pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court to grooming and having sexual activity with a child.

'Lack of remorse'

The professional conduct panel has now banned Hanson from teaching indefinitely in any school, sixth-form college, youth accommodation or children's home in England and he may not apply to restore his eligibility to teach.

The ruling, published on Wednesday, said there were no mitigating factors for Hanson's "calculated and sexually motivated" actions.

Alan Meyrick, acting on behalf of the education secretary, accepted the panel's recommendation of an immediate prohibition order.

His report said: "In my judgement, the lack of insight and remorse means that there is some risk of the repetition of this behaviour and this puts at risk the future wellbeing of pupils, even taking into account that the victim in this case was not a pupil of Hanson's.

"It is necessary to impose a prohibition order in order to maintain public confidence in the profession."

West Town Lane's governing body said: "We have been informed that a ruling has been passed regarding a former employee.

"The offences do not relate to any pupil or former pupil at the school. 

"Safeguarding is of paramount importance. The arrangements the school makes to safeguard the welfare of pupils were found to be fully compliant with a strong culture of safeguarding across the school particularly emphasised by Ofsted at our most recent inspection in February 2019."