Adam Binns

Introduction

Adam Binns was a teacher at Bourne Grammar School in Lincolnshire, where he had worked since September 2010. On two nights out with pupils in December 2017, he sexually touched a pupil in a shared taxi, asked to enter another pupil’s home, and asked the girls not to tell anyone. His school dismissed him in 2021 and the case reached the Teaching Regulation Agency that October. A professional conduct panel heard the case in November 2025 and found the allegations proved except one element. On 4 December 2025 the Secretary of State prohibited Binns from teaching indefinitely, with no entitlement to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Binns joined Bourne Grammar School in September 2010, aged 20, and by December 2017 he was 27. In June 2014 the school issued him a Management Guidance Letter over his second job working in a licensed premises in Bourne, warning that as the school had “a large, mixed population of older students… some of these students may wish to patronise your place of work”. Pupil A gave a statement to the school on 10 January 2018 and police interviews followed. The school dismissed him after a disciplinary process in September 2021. The case was referred to the TRA on 22 October 2021, almost four years after the events.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Contested and lost in full. This was a regulatory case, not a criminal one: Binns, present and legally represented, denied the taxi touching and the door knock, and the panel found the pupils’ corroborated accounts proved, while one quoted remark was expressly not proved.

On the evening of 15 December 2017, Pupil A, Pupil B and Pupil C went out to a pub in Bourne where Binns was working behind the bar. He said to Pupil A “do you want to go and get naughty with me” and later told her “you’re going to make me lose my job”, on her account. He then insisted the group take a taxi rather than walk, got into the back seat beside Pupil A and put his hand up her dress and into her underwear, touching her vulva and vagina; she said she moved his hand away more than once. Her account stayed consistent across her school statement, her police interview and her 2024 witness statement, and the panel found allegations 1(a) to 1(c) proved.

At Pupil B’s house the girls went inside and locked the door; the panel found Binns knocked and asked to come in “to get warm”, that Pupil B refused, and that his denial was untrue. He admitted telling the girls words to the effect of “don’t tell anyone what happened, because I love my job, I don’t wanna lose my job, you girls know I love my job”. The suggestion that he said “it’ll be your fault if I lose my job” was not proved: only Pupil B alleged it and it was uncorroborated.

Binns called the central allegation “utter lies”. The panel found it improbable that his admitted reaction, “Oh God” or “Oh Jesus, I’m going to lose my job”, would have followed if all he had discovered was that he had shared a taxi with pupils. Following the approach in Basson v GMC and GMC v Haris, it found there was “no other plausible innocent explanation other than there being a sexual motivation”, and noted he knew Pupil A was intoxicated and therefore vulnerable.

A week later, on 22 December 2017, the group went out again, and Binns, again behind the bar, asked Pupil A to speak alone. He told her “I put my hands down your pants” and/or “I fingered you in the back of the taxi”, asked her “is it weird that I find you attractive”, and said “it’s a shame because I think you would have really liked it”. The panel found all three remarks proved, preferred Pupil A’s account over his denial that he would have used the word “fingered”, and found his conduct sexually motivated and his failure to tell the school dishonest.

Public Reaction and Consequences

At the school’s formal disciplinary meeting on 21 September 2021, Binns admitted he “should never have asked the students to keep quiet, this was a bad decision and a poor choice”, and at his dismissal hearing he was clear that he should have disclosed the event at the first available time. The school dismissed him. No criminal charge or conviction appears anywhere in the published decision; the January 2018 police interviews fed the school and regulatory process instead.

The TRA panel, sitting virtually from 17 to 21 and 25 November 2025 with Miss Victoria Miller in the chair, found the proven facts amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. The breaches included sexual misconduct that used or exploited his position of trust and the coercion of pupils in asking them not to say anything about his actions. The panel recommended a prohibition order, initially with a five-year review period.

Current Status

The panel recommended a five-year review period, reasoning that Binns likely did not know Pupil A was a pupil when the taxi touching occurred. Marc Cavey, deciding on behalf of the Secretary of State on 4 December 2025, overruled that recommendation and concluded that “allowing for no review period is necessary to maintain public confidence”. Binns is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England, and shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. The order takes effect from the date it is served, with a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days. The outcome was published on 9 January 2026.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Binns’ teaching career of roughly eleven years ended with his dismissal in 2021, and the prohibition order closes teaching in England permanently. A teacher subject to an ordinary prohibition order may apply for a review after at least two years; because no review period was allowed, Binns can never apply for restoration. The decision maker also gave weight to the lack of evidence of full insight, and the panel found no evidence of significant contribution to the profession despite one witness describing him as capable.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Adam Binns,” published 9 January 2026 — source