Benjamin Lillicrap

Introduction

Benjamin Lillicrap is a former science teacher at The Abbey School in Faversham, Kent, who was dismissed for gross misconduct in February 2024 and later banned from the teaching profession indefinitely by a Teacher Regulation Agency professional conduct panel. His removal from the classroom followed his admission that he had taken indecent images of himself on school premises during working hours. Unlike many disciplinary cases that turn on contested allegations, the central facts were not disputed: when asked directly during his school’s disciplinary process whether he had taken such photographs, Lillicrap said that he had. The case moved from an internal school investigation to a national regulatory outcome, with the panel finding that his behaviour fell short of the standards expected of a teacher and showed no regard to the safeguarding of students. The outcome of the Teacher Regulation Agency proceedings was reported on 18 April 2026.

Background Information

Lillicrap worked at The Abbey School in Faversham, Kent, a school in the English county of Kent, having joined the institution in July 2023 as a science teacher. His employment there lasted only a few months, ending in November 2023, when the school suspended him after indecent images were discovered during an unrelated police investigation at the school.

Publicly available reporting on Lillicrap is limited to his teaching career and the disciplinary and regulatory proceedings that ended it. He was not a public figure before the case, and his name entered the public record through the reporting of the Teacher Regulation Agency panel’s published outcome, which is the basis for the account below.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Benjamin Lillicrap’s admission that he took indecent images of himself on school premises during school hours, and the Teacher Regulation Agency professional conduct panel’s findings that his behaviour was inappropriate and/or unprofessional, was conduct of a sexual nature and/or was sexually motivated, and constituted conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, are matters of regulatory record. The panel’s findings are civil-standard regulatory findings, not criminal convictions. No criminal charge arising from the images themselves is recorded in the reported outcome.

The incident came to light in November 2023. During an unrelated police investigation at The Abbey School, officers found multiple indecent images of Lillicrap’s genitalia that had been taken on the school premises. The school suspended him and held an initial investigation meeting, followed by a formal disciplinary hearing.

At the hearing, Lillicrap did not dispute what he had done. When asked directly, “Have you taken any pictures of your penis during school time?”, he said that he had, and that the images were meant for a private individual. He stated that no children were in the room when he took them. He apologised for taking the photographs on school grounds but said: “It was never anything that was meant to come to light.”

Following the disciplinary hearing, the school dismissed him for gross misconduct in February 2024, and the matter was referred to the Teacher Regulation Agency, the body responsible for regulating teacher conduct in England.

Public Reaction and Consequences

A Teacher Regulation Agency professional conduct panel considered the case and found that Lillicrap had engaged in inappropriate and/or unprofessional behaviour, and that the behaviour was conduct of a sexual nature and/or was sexually motivated. The panel found that his actions constituted conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute and that his conduct fell short of the standards expected of the profession.

The panel’s published findings were critical of the safeguarding implications of his conduct. Its report said: “The panel found that Mr Lillicrap’s behaviour showed no regard to safeguarding of students, or the potential risk of students, colleagues and/or members of the public finding him taking images of his genitalia when on school premises.” The report added: “The panel found that this was not an appropriate way for a teacher to behave and he failed to observe the boundaries appropriate to his role as a teacher.”

The panel also noted that students have the right to be educated in a safe environment and that teachers have a duty of care to ensure that this is the case, finding that by behaving in this way Lillicrap did not provide a safe environment for the students. It said he “was wrongly focused on his own sexual gratification rather than on his teaching responsibilities”.

On the basis of these findings, Lillicrap was banned from teaching indefinitely. The panel’s outcome, including the indefinite prohibition, was reported on 18 April 2026.

Current Status

As of the reported outcome in April 2026, Benjamin Lillicrap is banned from teaching indefinitely. An indefinite prohibition means there is no fixed end date to the ban, and he cannot work as a teacher while it remains in force. He had already lost his position at The Abbey School when he was dismissed for gross misconduct in February 2024.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The case ended Lillicrap’s teaching career. His employment at The Abbey School lasted from July to November 2023 and was terminated by dismissal for gross misconduct, and the subsequent Teacher Regulation Agency finding and indefinite ban remove the possibility of teaching in England for the foreseeable future. The panel’s conclusion that his conduct may bring the profession into disrepute, and its criticism of his failure to observe the boundaries appropriate to a teacher’s role, form the permanent regulatory record associated with his name.