British teacher banned from profession over 'indecent images' of teens

A British teacher has been banned from his profession for obtaining a pornography DVD containing indecent images of boys aged between 14 and 16 years old.

Philip Ellis, 58, was previously employed at the UK's Paddington Academy in Westminster, but resigned in October 2015 after accepting an official caution from the police in relation to the illicit material. He will never teach again, an academic watchdog panel has now ruled.

Items seized by police from his home in February 2015 included the DVD, a commercially produced film called "After School Break". Upon analysis, it was found to contain scenes titled "After School", "The Banya", "The Shower" and "Getting Dressed".

The footage was classed by a police officer from the Metropolitan Police Paedophile Unit as Category C indecent images. On 21 April 2015, Ellis was arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children. He accepted a caution on 10 July, the panel said.

Category C - in legal terms of the Crown Prosecution Service - is the least severe classification.

The former teacher said he believed that everyone in the pornography film was over the age of 18 and claimed he purchased the content as "a naturist and adult pornography DVD". He answered "no comment" when asked by police where it had been purchased.

Alan Meyrick, decision maker for the National College for Teaching and Leadership panel, concluded in a July panel (not publicly released until August 2017) that he felt it was "necessary to impose a prohibition order to maintain public confidence in the profession."

He stated: "I have concluded that a prohibition order is proportionate and in the public interest in order to achieve the aims which a prohibition order is intended to achieve.

"Mr Philip Ellis is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, Sixth Form College, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England. I have decided that Mr Philip Ellis shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach."

Ellis was not present or represented at the latest hearing. In its full report, the panel said that it does not believe he is a risk to children or pupils. There is no suggestion that Mr Ellis was involved in distributing, making, taking or publishing any indecent image, it also stressed.

The Metropolitan Police told The Evening Standard: "On 21 April 2015 a 56-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of indecent images of children. He accepted a police caution on 11 July 2015." It did not comment on the latest developments.