Ben Symons

Introduction

Ben Symons worked as a supply teacher through the Worldwide Teaching agency, with a placement at St Pauls Catholic High School in Manchester on 10 and 11 October 2019. In February 2022 a Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel found against him on his own admissions: that in 2018 or 2019 he possessed and viewed pornographic imagery depicting children under 18 and bestiality; that this was indicative of a sexual interest in children; and that the conduct was sexually motivated. Symons admitted every allegation in a signed statement of agreed facts and in his police interview. Decision maker Sarah Buxcey rejected the panel’s recommended two-year review period and banned him from teaching for life with no review at all.

Background Information

On 15 October 2019 — four days after his two-day placement at St Pauls — police raided Symons’ home address. He informed the agency of the police contact and the matter moved to the regulatory track. The material at issue was not photographs or pseudo-photographs of real children: Symons admitted viewing hentai and furry pornography, and that this interest developed into him viewing hentai and other drawn artwork portraying underage children in sexual activity, including oral sex. He told police he engaged in sexual acts while viewing it, which grounded the sexual-motivation finding. The panel reviewed CCTV footage of his police interview, in which he made the same admissions.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Admitted in full — artwork, not photographs, but an admitted sexual interest in children; the decision maker stripped the panel’s review period entirely.

The panel found allegations 1(a), 1(b), 2 and 3 proved on his admissions and the interview footage. Symons admitted that the conduct was indicative of a sexual interest in children and that he used the material for sexual gratification, and the panel determined nothing other than that the conduct was sexually motivated. On sanction, the panel found a strong public interest in protecting pupils given the findings and in maintaining public confidence, and weighed his admissions and cooperation in his favour; it recommended a prohibition order with a two-year review period — a comparatively soft recommendation for a child-sexual-interest finding. Buxcey disagreed. She wrote that due to the nature of the allegations and the damaging effect on the profession she did not support the panel’s recommendation on review, that two years would not be sufficient to maintain public confidence, and that allowing no review period was necessary and proportionate.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The decision is notable for the decision maker’s public override of the panel’s sanction recommendation — the same pattern as the Betteridge and Folami cases, where panels sympathetic to mitigation were corrected upward. Buxcey treated the admitted sexual interest in children as the decisive aggravator: the material was drawn rather than photographic, but the admission that adult pornography interests had developed into underage material, made by a serving supply teacher, left public confidence irreparable without the harshest available order. The published decision is the case’s main public record; neither the police raid nor the prohibition attracted press coverage. Symons played no part in the hearing, which was decided without one at his own request on the agreed facts.

Current Status

Symons is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England, and he shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach — the order Buxcey issued carries no review date whatsoever. It took effect from service on the teacher, with a right of appeal to the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days of notice. The determination is dated 28 February 2022, with the order dated 2 March 2022. Whatever criminal disposition attended the October 2019 raid, the published regulatory record rests on his own admissions rather than any contested finding.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The case is the clearest recent illustration that drawn or fictional material depicting children is treated by the TRA as seriously as photographic indecent images: the panel’s findings turn entirely on artwork, and the career consequence is still a permanent ban with no restoration right. It also demonstrates the decision maker’s upward-correction power over panels — a teacher whose case lands with a recommended review period can still be banned without one where the findings involve children. For supply agencies, the case shows how a two-day placement can sit inside an investigation that ends a career; for Symons, the admission in his police interview forecloses any child-facing work in England for life.

Sources

• Dept for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Ben Symons” — source