A FORMER teacher at a Denton high school has been banned for life after a string of ‘sexually motivated’ messages to two former pupils.
Thomas Wilson, who was an assistant curriculum leader for religious education at St Thomas More RC College, was found to have breached regulations on several counts.
And a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) hearing decided to ban the 38-year-old from working in that position – and even attempt to get his registration back.
The agency heard that seven months after Mr Wilson began working at Thomas More, on Town Lane, in April 2023, a parent of a former pupil at St Paul’s Catholic High School in Wythenshawe reported he had engaged in inappropriate contact with another, known as Student A.
He was arrested on or around November 14 that year in relation to his alleged conduct and suspended from work about six days later.
After the Denton school investigated, he was sacked in early March 2024 and the matter referred to the TRA on March 12.
The hearing heard how Mr Wilson claimed he sent a photo of his naked torso and part of his pubic region on October 24, 2023. as Student A had asked for a gym “progress photo.”
But a report states: “On the balance of probabilities, the panel did not accept Mr Wilson’s explanation as plausible.
“The panel found that the image was sexual in nature.”
After a number of allegations against Mr Wilson, including exchanging messages with another former pupils at St Paul’s and inappropriate texts to and physical contact with a colleague, were proved, the TRA took the strongest action.
In making recommendations to the Secretary of State for Education, now Lucy Powell, decision maker Stuart Blomfield wrote: “In light of the panel’s findings against Mr Wilson, it considered that there was a strong public interest consideration in respect of the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils.
“In particular, the panel noted that Mr Wilson had engaged in communications with two former students under the age of 18, which were sexually motivated and, in some instances, sexual in nature.
“The panel considered that this conduct had the potential to put them at risk of serious harm.
“The panel found that the ordinary, intelligent and well-informed citizen would view Mr Wilson’s sexual and sexually motivated communication towards two former students, as abhorrent and wholly unacceptable, and that it had the potential to significantly diminish the public’s confidence in the teaching profession.
“There was no evidence that Mr Wilson’s actions were not deliberate. There was no evidence to suggest that Mr Wilson was acting under extreme duress.
“I have concluded that a prohibition order is proportionate and in the public interest in order to achieve the intended aims of a prohibition order.
“Allowing for no review period is necessary to maintain public confidence and is proportionate and in the public interest.
“This means that Mr Thomas Wilson is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
“Furthermore, in view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, I have decided that Mr Wilson shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.”