Calum Lacey

Introduction

Calum Lacey taught at Amery Hill School in Hampshire until his career ended in criminal conviction. In November 2022 he was convicted at Southampton Crown Court of sexual communication with a child and of causing or inciting sexual activity with a girl aged 13 to 17 while in a position of trust — offences committed in 2020 and 2021 against school-age girls, one at or from his school and one online. The sentencing judge said Lacey “actively took advantage of his position as a teacher to ingratiate with and to groom two teenage schoolgirls”. He received a 24-month prison sentence, and in May 2024 the Secretary of State prohibited him from teaching for life with no review period and no route back.

Background Information

Lacey was born in March 1989 and worked at Amery Hill School in Hampshire. The offences spanned 1 March to 31 July 2020 and 1 October 2020 to 31 March 2021: sexual communication with a child contrary to section 15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and causing or inciting sexual activity with a female aged 13 to 17 by a person aged 18 or over abusing a position of trust, contrary to section 17(1)(e)(i). He pleaded guilty. On 29 November 2022 he was convicted at Southampton Crown Court, and on 19 January 2023 he was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment, 10 years on notification requirements, a 5-year sexual harm prevention order, and a victim surcharge.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted of a relevant offence. Lacey admitted the allegations and the conviction of a relevant offence through a signed statement of agreed facts: sexual communication with a child, and causing or inciting sexual activity with a girl aged 13-17 while abusing a position of trust. The panel accepted the Southampton Crown Court certificate of conviction as conclusive proof.

The sentencing remarks, presented to the panel, described how Lacey exploited his role: “You were in a position where parents ought to be able to trust to care for their children, to protect them, and not in any way to interfere with or abuse them. The pupils too should have been able to trust you to look after them and not interfere with them.” The judge found he “actively took advantage of his position as a teacher to ingratiate with and to groom two teenage schoolgirls, one at his school, or had been at his school, and one on the internet, for the purposes of his own sexual gratification”. Because he admitted the facts and the conviction, the TRA agreed to decide the case without a hearing, and the panel met in private.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found an “extremely strong public interest consideration in respect of the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils and protection of other members of the public” given the nature of the offences and the sentencing context. It acknowledged mitigation — Lacey’s guilty pleas, and the finding that he “had evidenced some regret and remorse in relation to his actions and insight into the implications of his actions”, with his teaching ability unchallenged — but found no relevant mitigating circumstances in the commission of the offences themselves. The judge’s remarks that his conduct “ran counter to what should be at the very core of the practice of a teacher” framed the public interest. It recommended prohibition without a review period.

Current Status

Decision maker Marc Cavey, acting for the Secretary of State on 16 May 2024, prohibited Lacey from teaching indefinitely — barring him from any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England — and, in view of the seriousness of the offences, ruled that he “shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach”. The judgment recorded that “the lack of evidence that Mr Lacey has attained full insight into his actions and their impact means that there is some risk of the repetition of this behaviour and this puts at risk the future wellbeing of pupils”. His prison sentence, registration and SHPO run alongside the lifetime ban.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Lacey’s conviction ended his classroom career and the May 2024 prohibition order ends any possibility of another one: a lifetime ban with no review, imposed even where a teacher pleads guilty and expresses regret, because the regulator found his insight incomplete. The decision preserves the sentencing judge’s assessment — a teacher who groomed two teenage girls, one from his own school and one online, for his own gratification. His name remains on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years from the January 2023 sentencing.

Sources

• Department for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Calum Lacey” — source