Teacher banned after online grooming conviction

A junior teacher has been banned from the profession after being jailed for more than three years for child sex offences.

Liam I'Anson-North was prevented from teaching indefinitely after a hearing by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).

The 30-year-old former Dewsbury teacher was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court in June 2023 of three online child sex offences.

A conduct panel found Liam I'Anson-North did not appear to have shown remorse following his conviction.

The TRA panel heard how the former teacher from Middleton in Rochdale had been caught out by a police team dedicated to protecting vulnerable children online.

His activity had first come to light in mid-2021 when an account using an alias created by I'Anson-North made contact via social media with a West Yorkshire Police controlled account.

The hearing heard how he thought he had been speaking to a 13-year-old girl online, but was in fact speaking with an undercover police member of staff.

He was arrested by officers in June 2021 at Ravensthorpe CE Junior School in Dewsbury where he worked.

He was later charged and after a trial was convicted of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and two offences of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

He was sentenced to three years, four months in prison.

The panel noted that he had maintained his innocence at a previous panel hearing stating “due to a guilty verdict I have had to accept the allegations.”

It also acknowledged that there had been "no evidence to suggest he was acting under extreme duress," and that he had been told on a number of occasions the person he was "communicating with online was 13 years old".

Decision-maker Marc Cavey decided that I'Anson-North would never teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England, and would not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.

He said in his conclusion there was "an extremely strong public interest consideration in respect of the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils and protection of other members of the public".

Mr Cavey said that with a "lack of evidence of insight and remorse, in my judgment, there is a risk of a repetition of this behaviour in the future."

I'Anson-North has 28 days to appeal against the decision to the King's Bench Division of the High Court.

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