Sex beasts seeking jobs in classroom
WANNABE ‘SIR’ SHOCKER
A POISONER and a child sex pervert were among crooks who tried to become teachers last year.
Hopefuls also included benefits cheats, arsonists and drug dealers.
In 2016, the 4,533 applications from would-be teachers revealed a colossal 11,386 offences – court convictions, cautions and police warnings.
People hoping to be a “Sir” or a “Miss” included some with a record for burglary, robbery or violence.
One was even convicted for trying to poison a victim. Another case involved an applicant who had harboured an escaped prisoner.
Details of applicants’ criminal pasts are given to prospective employers who decide whether to employ them.
Last year, one budding teacher had a conviction for sexually assaulting a child. Another was found guilty of being drunk in charge of a youngster.
There were seven convictions for indecently assaulting women, seven for “flashing” and two for making obscene phone calls.
Twenty-two had mistreated children and two had failed to send a child to school. One applicant had a record for taking a weapon into school, while another was convicted of selling alcohol to a child.
Last year’s crop of applicants had 24 convictions for racism between them including racially motivated assaults, abuse, harassment and criminal damage. There were 91 offences relating to the supply of drugs.
There were also five convictions where an applicant had caused a death on the road through dangerous, reckless or careless driving.
The would-be teachers clocked up a tally of 23 convictions for arson, 22 for house burglary and eight for growing cannabis plants.
Eight had kerb-crawling convictions while there was one offence of blackmail. There were 198 for claiming benefits they were not entitled to and 144 for assaulting police. The most common offences recorded against prospective teachers were for drinkdriving (1,387) and shoplifting (790).
Records are held by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), which took over the role from the Criminal Records Bureau and trawls the Police National Computer for offences committed by people who are applying for jobs where they have access to children or vulnerable people.
A spokesman for the DBS said: “We are unable to confirm if any of the individuals were employed as a result of the information being released as the DBS has no involvement in any recruitment decision made.”