Art teacher caught with indecent images one month after starting job is banned

Matthew Walker, 31, was arrested and sacked one month after he began working as an art teacher at Stokesley School in North Yorkshire in 2019.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent photographs of children at Teesside Crown Court in November 2021 and was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

The court heard the teacher had downloaded videos of girls as young as four from the dark web. Police found 57 images and 81 videos that were classed as Category A – the most serious.

A Teaching Regulation Agency misconduct panel reviewed the case and decided Walker should be banned from the profession indefinitely.

In a ruling, the panel stated “his behaviour was fundamentally incompatible with his position as a teacher”.

“Public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if conduct such as that found against Mr Walker were not treated with the utmost seriousness when regulating the conduct of the profession,” it added.

“The panel was of the view that a strong public interest consideration in declaring proper standards of conduct in the profession was also present as the conduct found against Mr Walker was outside that which could reasonably be tolerated.

“Mr Walker was recently qualified and had insufficient time to demonstrate his abilities as an educator.”