Teacher banned from profession after paying children to send him Snapchat video
He has been prohibited from teaching indefinitely
A Peterborough teacher has been banned from teaching after a panel found he had paid children to send him a video of a sexual nature.
Billy Hart, 28, worked at the City of Peterborough Academy and was suspended inMarch, 2021. He had been in employment at the school since February 2020.
The allegations, which took place outside of the school setting, involved Mr Hart requesting two children under the age of 16 to send over an inappropriate video via Snapchat.
The video showed one child, fully clothed and with a blanket tied around their legs. This was found by the panel to be of a sexual nature or sexually-motivated
Mr Hart was arrested on suspicion of causing or inciting the exploitation of a child on March 18, 2021, but police took no further action.
A professional conduct panel from the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) conducted a public hearing into the matter in March of this year.
The panel said Mr Hart’s behaviour “fundamentally breached the standard of conduct expected of a teacher”.
They added that he showed “no remorse” for his actions – and “did not co-operate with the police investigation following his arrest” – refusing to be interviewed due to Covid. He also refused to give police passwords to the devices which were seized.
Despite this, they said he had admitted that he corresponded with two children using social media and requested, offered payment, paid for and received a video from them.
The panel found that Mr Hart lacked an understanding of appropriate boundaries between adults and children, and “displayed indicators of negative safeguarding behaviours.”
It found that the findings of misconduct were serious, and the conduct displayed “would be likely to have a negative impact on the individual’s status as a teacher”. The panel also considered that Mr Hart’s conduct could potentially damage the public’s perception of a teacher. They therefore found that Mr Hart’s actions ”constituted conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute”.
Whilst it saw “some evidence of good character”, the panel noted that no statements or references from any colleagues that could attest to his character or ability in any detail had been provided.
An except from the TRA findings reads: “Whilst the panel found that Mr Hart’s misconduct was of a sexual nature, which was highly unacceptable, the panel did find the misconduct to be on the lower end of the continuum. In particular, the panel noted that this appeared to be the first time that Mr Hart requested a video of a sexual nature from Child A and/or Child B, and that it had only happened on one occasion.”
The panel made a recommendation to the Secretary of State that Mr Hart should be the subject of a prohibition order, with a review period of three years.
It was decided that the 28 year-old should be prohibited from teaching indefinitely and be unable to teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
Mr Hart now has the right of appeal, and can request for the prohibition order to be set aside in three years time.