A primary teacher in Scotland who secretly filmed under girls’ clothing has been struck off.
On 26 September 2017, at Airdrie Sheriff Court in North Lanarkshire, James Hughes had been convicted of operating equipment beneath the clothing of various pupils without their knowledge or consent on various occasions in October and November 2016, “with the intention of enabling yourself or another person to observe the genitals, buttocks or underwear of the said pupils in that you did record them by use of an electronic device”.
He had also been convicted of operating equipment beneath the clothing of various pupils aged between 9 and 12 - on various occasions from June to November 2016 - having instructed them to perform actions that exposed their underwear, enter a storage cupboard and change their clothing, before covertly recording them after they had exposed their underwear. Hughes intended to enable himself or another person “to observe the genitals, buttocks or underwear of said pupils”.
These details were published today by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).
Hughes, who was 54 at the time of his conviction, was sentenced on 5 December 2017 to 18 months in prison and placed on the sex offender registry.
A GTCS fitness-to-teach panel ruled that a request by Hughes to be given anonymity should not be granted, stating that publishing his name was “necessary to maintain the public’s confidence in the teaching profession”.