Ban for teacher who sent photo of his bottom to former pupil

A FORMER music teacher who sent a photo of his bare bottom to a former pupil has been banned from teaching indefinitely.

Dale Aubrey Evans was a teacher at Cardiff High School when he accepted a friend request from a former student at a school where he had previously worked.

An Education Workforce Council (EWC) fitness to practise hearing held in Cardiff this week heard that the then 17-year-old former pupil, known as Pupil A in proceedings, told Evans he was gay and the teacher responded by giving him his telephone number.

Evans began texting what he thought was Pupil A’s number but it belonged to a younger boy, referred to in proceedings as Person C, who sent Mr Evans a Photoshopped picture of a pornographic image with Pupil A’s face on it. In response, Mr Evans sent photos of himself bending over a bed with his bare bottom on show, which was subsequently shared on Snapchat by Person C, Pupil A and another former pupil, referred to as Pupil B.

It was alleged that Mr Evans’ conduct was sexually motivated and constituted “unacceptable professional conduct”.

The former teacher had denied his actions were unacceptable and claimed he was a victim of “discriminatory and homophobic” treatment by the former pupils.

A police investigation took place after a complaint was made against Mr Evans but they found no criminal behaviour had taken place.

Case presenter Cadi Dewi had told the hearing that Mr Evans had taken up a position as head of music at Cardiff High School when the allegations surfaced.

Ms Dewi said: “Pupil A messaged Mr Evans telling him he was gay and Mr Evans sent his personal phone number. He passed that number to Person C, who messaged Mr Evans pretending to be Pupil A.

“Whilst representing Cardiff High School at a conference in Manchester, Mr Evans sent text messages of a sexual nature to Person C, believing him to be Pupil A.

“They became explicit, and a photograph was widely shared across the Cardiff area of school pupils.

“The former pupils said they pretended to be gay for their own amusement and sent a Photoshopped photo of Pupil A. After receiving the photos from Mr Evans, the three individuals blocked him and no further messages were made.”

During the hearing, Ms Dewi said: “When Pupil A explains he is gay and asks Mr Evans if he is, rather than shutting down the conversation, he says ‘What do you think?’ and asks ‘What do you want me to be?’”

The committee deemed some of Evans’ actions to be unprofessional and found it proved that Evans had become friends with Pupil A on Facebook and that he provided the pupil with his mobile phone number.

The committee also found the former teacher had engaged in inappropriate messages with Pupil A.

It was also proved that Evans had sent a sexually explicit image to what he thought was Pupil A’s phone, as well as messages of an inappropriate nature. This act was deemed to be sexually motivated.

The committee determined that engaging in inappropriate or sexual communication with Pupil A, and sending a sexually explicit image to the pupil, amounted to unacceptable professional conduct.

It was not proved that Evans had added Pupil B as a friend on Facebook or had engaged in inappropriate communication with the pupil.

Helen Robbins, on behalf of the committee, said: “We have decided to issue a probation order to protect the public and the pupils. This means he (Evans) will be removed from the teaching register. He will be able to reapply but not until three years’ time.”