Description
Robert Johnson, 40, was jailed for 27 months and has now been prohibited from teaching indefinitely in any school in England.
A Durham schoolteacher who distributed indecent videos and was snared during an FBI investigation has been banned from teaching indefinitely.
Robert Johnson, 40, was caught after FBI agents identified links between his home computer IP address and a file sharing site being used to distribute indecent images. It was then referred to the National Crime Agency in the UK who picked up the investigation alongside local police. In 2020, Johnson was jailed for 27 months at Durham Crown Court after being found guilty of two charges relating to the distribution of indecent videos of children.
The court heard Johnson, who worked as a history teacher, undertook steps to protect his identity while using a cloud storage site to share indecent videos. He used sophisticated privacy software, including the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to hide his IP address to avoid detection.
Two years on from his prison sentence, in September this year, a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) remotely convened to consider the case of Johnson before prohibiting him from teaching indefinitely. Before his conviction, Johnson was employed as a teacher and was the head of humanities at a County Durham school and was arrested in March 2019. He was then suspended from his role at the school before being dismissed on the same day he received his prison sentence on the grounds of "frustration of contract".
The panel meeting heard Johnson signed a statement of agreed facts and admitted his conviction after he requested the allegation be considered without a hearing. Because of the request, the meeting took place in private and in his absence.
A report of the meeting, which has now been published, said: "The panel noted that Johnson’s actions were relevant to teaching, working with children and working in an education setting due to the nature of his conviction. Similarly, the panel also noted that the behaviour involved in committing the offence could have had an impact on the safety or security of pupils and/or members of the public.
"The panel also took account of the way the teaching profession is viewed by others. The panel considered that Johnson’s behaviour in committing the offences could affect public confidence in the teaching profession, given the influence that teachers may have on pupils, parents and others in the community."
The panel also took into account that Johnson "acknowledged the sexual nature of his misconduct (and) is likely to be considered as permanently incompatible with the teaching profession …” The report added: "The lack of any apparent insight or remorse means that there is some risk of the repetition of this behaviour and this puts at risk the future wellbeing of pupils."
The panel made a recommendation to the Secretary of State that Johnson should be the subject of a prohibition order, with no provision for a review period. The panel also made a recommendation that a prohibition order should be imposed with immediate effect. This means that Johnson 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 allegation found proved against him, it was decided that Johnson shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.