Former Cornwall paedo teacher banned from classroom for life
He was originally sentenced to 40 months in prison and put on the sex offenders' register for life
A former Cornwall teacher jailed for sexual offences has been banned from the profession for life.
Stephen Squire, who previously taught at Penrice Academy in St Austell between 2019 and 2020, was convicted by jury following a trial at Plymouth Crown Court in December 2023 after sending explicit videos of himself to what he believed was a 12-year-old girl, who was in fact an undercover police officer.
Plymouth Crown Court heard that Squire, of South Brent, Devon, sent two videos of himself masturbating and communicated with the "child" via Snapchat, Kik and Chat Avenue in June 2020.
He was jailed in 2024 to 40 months in prison after being found guilty of attempting to incite a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act, and attempting to sexually communicate with a child.
He was placed on the sex offenders' register for life and a sexual harm prevention order was also imposed for 10 years restricting his access to the internet.
Now a Teaching Regulation Agency misconduct panel has ruled that Squire's conviction represents a serious safeguarding issue for future pupils at any school and allowing Squire to ever continue to teach would "seriously weaken public confidence in the profession".
The TRA panel said: "We are satisfied that Mr Squire's offending behaviour was a calculated course of conduct. There was no evidence to suggest that Mr Squire was acting under extreme duress, such as a physical threat or significant intimidation.
"The panel considered that Mr Squire had not taken full accountability for his actions. The panel considered that there was no evidence of Mr Squire displaying any remorse for his actions. As such, the panel was not satisfied that Mr Squire demonstrated any insight into his conduct, meaning the risk of him repeating his behaviour is high."
David Oatley, chairman of the TRA panel concluded his reported dated May 26: "In this case, factors mean that allowing a review period is not sufficient to achieve the aim of maintaining public confidence in the profession.
"These elements are the serious nature of the offences of which Mr Squire was convicted and received a sentence of imprisonment, the lack of insight and remorse, and the risk of repetition.! consider therefore that allowing for no review period is necessary to maintain public confidence and is proportionate and in the public interest.
"This means that Mr Stephen Squire 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 Squire shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach."