Andrew Freethy

Introduction

Andrew Freethy is a former science teacher whose career in English state education ended with a lifelong ban from the classroom. Between September 2013 and August 2018 he taught science at Matravers School in Wiltshire. More than a year after he resigned, in November 2019, he pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court to six offences of making and distributing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children — offences committed across a period that began in 2011 and ran to within months of his departure from teaching. On behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, a Teaching Regulation Agency decision maker prohibited him from teaching indefinitely, with no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Andrew Freethy was born on 9 January 1988 (TRA reference 19117). He was employed at Matravers School, Wiltshire, as a science teacher from September 2013 and resigned on 31 August 2018, after five academic years. Beyond that employment record, the published decision says little about his career or personal circumstances. What it does establish is the timeframe of his criminal conduct: the offences he later admitted were committed on divers days between 4 April 2011 and 26 April 2018 — beginning more than two years before he joined Matravers and ending roughly four months before his resignation. The panel later characterised these as relevant convictions against unknown children, committed over a substantial period when he worked as a teacher.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

On 11 November 2019, Freethy pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court to six offences: three of distributing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children, contrary to section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978, and three of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of children, contrary to section 1(a) of the same Act. The offences were committed on divers days between 4 April 2011 and 26 April 2018. On 9 December 2019 he was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment per offence, to run concurrently, was ordered to sign the Sexual Offences Register for 10 years, and the sentencing judge referred him to the Disclosure and Barring Service to determine whether he should be placed on the Barring List.

The Teaching Regulation Agency issued its notice of proceedings on 6 May 2021. The panel convened on 19 July 2021, sitting remotely via Microsoft Teams. Freethy was neither present nor represented: he had responded to the notice confirming he would not attend and was content for it to proceed in his absence, a position reiterated in an email of 2 July 2021. Satisfied his absence was voluntary, the panel proceeded without him, hearing no live evidence. He had asked for the hearing to be in private, but the panel found no proper reason for that and proceeded in public. Before the merits, the allegation was corrected: the conviction date was amended from an erroneous 9 February 2019 to 11 November 2019, and wording implying a jury trial was removed, since it did not reflect guilty pleas for which he had been given sentencing credit.

The case was effectively proved by his own admissions: in his response to the notice and in a Statement of Agreed Facts signed on 18 December 2020, Freethy accepted having a conviction for a relevant offence. A Certificate of Conviction from Bristol Crown Court, dated 13 November 2020, was accepted by the panel as conclusive proof of the offences and the sentence, and it found the allegations proved.

Turning to the nature of the offending, the panel found: “Whilst there was no evidence that any of the convictions related to any pupil of Mr Freethy, each of the offences that he was convicted of, over a significant time period, was against a child.” It concluded that his conduct breached the Teachers’ Standards on safeguarding pupils’ well-being and upholding public trust in the profession, and that the offending was relevant to his ongoing suitability to teach. The sixteen-month concurrent sentences were indicative of the seriousness of the offences.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The published decision records no wider public response; the consequences played out in the criminal courts and before the regulator. The criminal courts had heard that Freethy indicated remorse and some insight, but the panel held that his repeated acts against children could only be seen in the most serious manner: he had volunteered no evidence or material to explain his behaviour as an adult. Even so, it weighed the mitigation in his favour: the panel understood that he “did have a previously good history and had made admissions, in both the criminal and regulatory context, at the earliest possible stages.” Against that, its view was stark: “It follows that such acts means a person is fundamentally incompatible with being a teacher.” Publishing the findings alone would unacceptably compromise the public interest, and it therefore recommended a prohibition order with no provision for a review period.

Current Status

On 21 July 2021, decision maker Alan Meyrick delivered the decision on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepting the panel’s recommendation on both sanction and review period. He found the proven facts amounted to a relevant criminal conviction for distributing and making indecent images of children, and gave considerable weight to the persistent nature of the offending and its seriousness as reflected in the sentencing. The effect of the order is that “Mr Andrew Freethy is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.” He is also not entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach, making the ban permanent as well as indefinite. The order took effect when served on him, with a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days of notice.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The prohibition order ended Freethy’s teaching career permanently. Combined with imprisonment, the sex offender register and the DBS referral, it forecloses any return to teaching in England, with no review period and no route to restoration. The decision maker acknowledged that prohibition would deprive the public of his contribution, but gave that contribution less weight, judging the order necessary to maintain public confidence in teaching. The findings stand on the public record: a science teacher who committed offences against children throughout almost the whole of the period he was employed to safeguard them.

Sources

• Department for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Andrew Freethy” — source