Former Northamptonshire teacher banned for having indecent images

Stuart Davies was working at Beachborough School near Brackley when he was arrested

A former teacher has been permanently banned from the profession after he was found with indecent images of children.

Stuart Davies, 40, who worked as a peripatetic musician at Beachborough School in Westbury, near Brackley, Northamptonshire, was sacked in July 2021 when he was arrested for uploading photographs of children to a website.

A teaching watchdog ruled his actions were "calculated and motivated".

He was convicted of several indecent images charges in March 2023.

A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel heard Davies received a suspended prison sentence following his convictions, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He was convicted of three offences of taking indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child and three offences of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.

Davies was absent from the TRA hearing and did not provide any written submission.

The TRA found there was no evidence that Davies's actions were not deliberate and it could not consider any mitigating circumstances due to his lack of engagement.

The panel found he was in breach of professional standards and there was a "strong public interest consideration in respect of the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils, given the serious findings of seriously inappropriate and sexual behaviour towards children".

It also found that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if such conduct was not treated with the "utmost seriousness".

The panel ruled he would not be entitled to apply to teach again.

The decision has been confirmed by Education Secretary Gillian Keegan.