Hartlepool teacher banned after sex acts with boy, 14, he met on Grindr

The child was not a pupil at Matthew Sides' school, Eldon Grove Academy

A teacher has been banned from teaching indefinitely after engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old boy.

Matthew Sides, who taught at Eldon Grove Academy, Hartlepool, met the child on the dating app Grindr.

A professional conduct panel heard the child told Mr Sides he was 16, which the boy admitted to police.

The panel accepted Mr Sides believed the child had been 16, but "completely neglected his duty, as the adult and as a teacher" to ensure this was the case.

The former teacher admitted engaging in sexual activity twice with the child, who was not a pupil at his school, at the beginning of 2019, when he was 25.

The panel's report said by engaging in sex acts with the boy in a car, which was parked in a public location on a road, Mr Sides had "breached public trust".

His awareness of the risks to the child, himself, the school and the teaching profession had been "woefully inadequate", it said.

The panel said "any reasonable person, let alone someone in the teaching profession, would, and should, have been more aware of the risks and consequences of engaging in sexual activity with someone who they did not know who said on one occasion that they were 16".

'Completely wrong'

Mr Sides worked at the school from September 2016 and was sacked on 10 July 2019, after contacting police to confess to what he had done and then being arrested.

The panel's report said the boy told the police the encounters and sexual activity had been consensual and without pressure.

Cleveland Police said a man was arrested in connection with an investigation, which was then closed.

The panel concluded Mr Sides "fully appreciated and accepted that his actions had been completely wrong" and was unlikely to repeat them.

Because of this it recommended he be banned from teaching, but with a review after five years.

However, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson concluded the panel had given "disproportionate weight" to mitigating circumstances and Mr Sides' remorse and ruled he should be banned indefinitely.