A former Salmestone primary teacher has been barred from the profession after being charged and then convicted of possessing extreme pornographic images of intercourse/oral sex with an animal.
Gavin Marsh, who has worked at the Margate primary since 2014 but had not been on the premises since February 2021 and was officially sacked in February last year, had received a two-year conditional discharge after pleading guilty to the charges at a court hearing in in December 2021.
A professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency considered allegations of unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute at a hearing on March 22 with the findings published yesterday (March 31)
The former PE teacher did not attend.
The panel heard that on 9 February 2021, the police contacted the school and informed it that Mr Marsh had been arrested. That month was the last point he was on school premises.
On 21 October 2021, the police informed the school that Mr Marsh had been charged with possession of extreme images. On 3 December 2021, Mr Marsh was convicted of the charges relating to images downloaded on or before November 5, 2020.
During the school’s disciplinary hearing, the 33-year-old said he used a ‘chat app’ to talk to friends that live abroad and met people online with similar interests such as sports.
From this, he said he got invited to groups which shared different things. He claimed he would not play an active role in the groups but would be removed and later added back into the group.
The panel noted the allegations took place outside the education setting and there were no safeguarding concerns in relation to children but concluded Mr Marsh was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
The Secretary of State also issued a prohibition order with immediate effect and with no provision to be reviewed.
This means that Gavin Marsh is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
Was it necessary to be quite so graphic in your description of the offences?
Why not,Phyllis?Why should we not be a party to the full details,when it is a “responsible adult”,charged with the care and safety of children?
Well reported,Kathy.
They were the charges as cited in the TRA report
No doubt.
But there’s more than a slim chance that children read these pages …
And the children and parents of the teacher,would not be aware of this,are you saying,Phyllis?
Teachers are fully aware of the consequences,to be involved in such sick activity.
Hopefully,he will be banned from ever keeping or working with animals
I just wondered if the graphic language could have been toned down a bit. It wasn’t really necessary in order to convey the story.
Put of order posting his pic and name.
It was whatts app probably his mates sending it,most blokes get sent crap that don’t agree with but that’s blokes.
Go on building site or football times phoned you sack 99% of them.
Guy lost his job not fair posting the article prob nice guy
Tim, he is responsible for children and would have a duty to report illegal images immediately. I have no sympathy.
How else would you put it? If you would have preferred “…pornographic images of [sex acts] with an animal.”, the reporting impact would be lost.
Would it? How?
Can’t believe some people are actually defending this sick animal!!
Can’t believe people don’t live in real world of internet your husband and wife is looking at your worse nightmare fantasy you can’t understand!
Could you rewrite that more lucidly, please?
To be honest I’m appalled by humans,no respect for the guy he wasn’t a pedo and have been treated worse !!!
Get life look at your husbands phone or wife then comment
You obviously know some low-life scum. Don’t judge others by your same sub-standards!
Needs banning from involment with animals too.
involvement ^
I got a funny pic of my dog trying to hump my tortoise on my phone – there is endless photos of everything on the internet being shared everywhere – I bet this guy was a good teacher and liked by many – will this turn out to be yet another Thanet suicide statistic due to internet media coverage – Shows just how powerful the internet has become and the damaged it can do just having a pic or two on your phone – this guy has been totally screwed by it.
Like your handle!
The bloke admitted he did wrong and was charged in December 2021, he done half of the suspended sentence, he would have tried to get on with his life. Why has the TRA taken so long to deal with this. Why post his picture too. If anything happens to him these papers are completely responsible. We all get tagged in things we’re not wanting, we look at pages and the next thing you know your receiving emails, texts and all sorts of things. I’ve received photos and links to things I wasn’t even aware got on my phone etc. I feel he has been treated too harshly. There’s no mention of any previous history of charges or convictions, don’t we all deserve a 2nd chance. Allow him to move on.