Banned: PE teacher who sent ‘flirtatious’ Snapchat messages to teenage girl

Girl’s mother called police after finding Snapchat messages that made for ‘uncomfortable reading’
26th March 2018, 11:06am

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Banned: PE teacher who sent ‘flirtatious’ Snapchat messages to teenage girl

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A PE teacher has been banned from the profession after engaging in “inappropriate communications” with a teenage girl on Snapchat.

The mother of the girl called police after finding messages sent between Jamie Hughes, 25, and her 14-year-old daughter via the social media app.

A professional conduct panel of the National College for Teaching and Leadership heard that the mother had already banned her daughter from communicating with Mr Hughes on Facebook two years earlier, when the girl was just 12, after finding messages from Mr Hughes. The messages had described what he was wearing, and when he was going to the shower, according to the mother.

Giving evidence in person, she told the panel that the content of the Snapchat messages, in which Mr Hughes was known as “Harry Potter,” was “largely immature” and it looked as if her daughter was communicating “with another child”.

She said: “Most of the messages were innocent and about Disney films. However, some of the messages made for uncomfortable reading.”

Message ‘about girl’s hands being tied’

The mother claimed one message by Mr Hughes referred to her daughter’s hands being tied above her head.

A panel report states: “In oral evidence, she suggested, for the first time, that this message also included a reference to Child A’s mouth being taped.

“In those circumstances, and whilst the panel considered Child A’s mother to be a credible witness, in the absence of having sight of this message, assuming it was sent, the panel was unable to attach any significance to this aspect of her evidence.”

The panel heard that Mr Hughes had been employed part-time as a PE teacher at the Phoenix Collegiate, in West Bromwich, where he started in September 2015 as an NQT.

The child was not a pupil at the school, but was a student at the dance academy where Mr Hughes volunteered.

In his witness statement to the panel, he said: “It did not occur to me at the time we began to dance together that she was anything other than a dancing partner and friend through dancing.”

No police investigation was pursued. During a school disciplinary process, Mr Hughes tendered his resignation.

The teacher admitted engaging in “inappropriate communications” by way of sending texts and Snapchat messages and to making one or more calls to the child, as well as sending a photo of himself lying on his bed with a naked torso. However, he denied that the messages were flirtatious or sexually motivated.

The panel found the messages, sent around April 2016, were “flirtatious” and that they amounted to “unacceptable professional conduct”. However, it found that there was “insufficient evidence to support the suggestion that Mr Hughes had a specific, sexual interest in the child”.

Mr Hughes has been banned from teaching, but may apply for the ban to be lifted after five years.

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