Christopher Arnold
Introduction
Christopher Arnold was a Physics and Computer Science teacher at Hampton School in Hampton, London, where he had taught since 1 September 2012. In March 2022 he was caught holding his mobile phone to the window of the school’s female changing rooms and attempting to photograph inside. He was dismissed, pleaded guilty and was convicted of a voyeurism offence at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court in May 2022, and was placed on the sex offenders register for five years. On 7 August 2025, Sarah Buxcey, deciding on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, prohibited him from teaching indefinitely after a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel found he had been convicted of a relevant offence.
Background Information
Arnold joined Hampton School, a private school, on 1 September 2012 and taught there for ten years, accumulating promotions to Assistant Head of Year and Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead. The panel noted evidence of “significant ability and competence as a teacher”, citing his academic career studying at Oxford University and “a number of glowing references about his teaching abilities from colleagues”. In December 2015 the school warned him when he was suspected of photographing or recording a [REDACTED] colleague, but no further action was taken at the time. The matter that ended his career reached the school on 23 March 2022, when [REDACTED] reported that Arnold had held his phone to the changing-room window. He was dismissed that May, arrested, and the matter was referred to the TRA on 9 May 2022.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Conviction for observing a person doing a private act.
On 23 March 2022, [REDACTED] reported to the School that Arnold had held his mobile phone to the window of the female changing rooms and attempted to take photographs inside. In his statement of agreed facts, signed on 10 March 2025, he admitted that he had held his phone up to the window in the ladies’ changing room with the intent to take photographs of female members of staff he knew were in the changing room at the time. The panel noted that he had taken deliberate steps to go through the double doors and up the stairs to reach the ladies’ changing rooms in the School.
Arnold was formally dismissed on 6 May 2022 following a disciplinary hearing. He was arrested, pleaded guilty and was convicted at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on 9 May 2022 of the criminal offence of ”observing a person doing a private act, knowing that the person did not consent to being observed for your sexual gratification”. The certificate of conviction, dated 19 July 2022, recorded the offence as ”Observing another person doing a private act, knowing that the person did not consent to being observed for his sexual gratification”. On 19 July 2022 he was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work and 30 days rehabilitation, and was made subject to notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 — the sex offenders register — for 5 years.
A professional conduct panel convened by virtual hearing on 1 August 2025, with Arnold present and not represented. No witnesses were called. Applying the Advice’s rule that a certificate of conviction is conclusive proof of both the conviction and the facts necessarily implied by it unless exceptional circumstances apply, and finding no such circumstances, the panel found allegation 1(a) proven. It found a conviction of a relevant offence, noting that the offence was committed on the School’s grounds, that voyeurism is a serious offence, and that his actions in attempting to take photographs, regardless of the outcome, demonstrated his intent at the time. The panel also noted his case that he did not actually take a photo or see anything inside the changing rooms.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The published decision is a regulatory record and records no press coverage. The panel acknowledged evidence of Arnold having significant ability as an educator, including his Oxford University background, multiple promotions and glowing references, but found the adverse public interest considerations outweighed any interest in retaining him, since his behaviour fundamentally breached the standard of conduct expected of a teacher. In mitigation it weighed his statement of 22 November 2022, in which he described the [REDACTED] he was undertaking and stated his actions were ”out of character and contrary to my attitudes and values”, that he was ”keen to take responsibility for my actions”, and that he accepted conviction and sentence as an ”opportunity to show understanding and acceptance of my actions”. He had pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity and expressed immediate and continued remorse. A probation service letter of 6 October 2022 stated he had ”engaged proactively with all aspects of his order” and posed a ”low risk to children”. The panel nevertheless found that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if such conduct was not treated with the utmost seriousness, and recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect and a review period of two years, noting that while serious sexual misconduct can tell against a review period, the circumstances of the offence were on the lower range of seriousness.
Current Status
Decision maker Sarah Buxcey imposed the prohibition order on 7 August 2025, concluding it was proportionate and in the public interest. Arnold ”is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England”. He may apply for the order to be set aside, but ”not until 15 August 2027, 2 years from the date of this order at the earliest”, and ”This is not an automatic right to have the prohibition order removed”. Without a successful application he remains prohibited from teaching indefinitely. He has a ”right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days from the date he is given notice of this order”. The decision was published on 27 August 2025. He also remains subject to the sex offenders register notification requirements imposed in July 2022, which run for five years from sentence.
Impact on Their Career/Life
A ten-year career that had produced promotions to Assistant Head of Year and Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead ended with a dismissal, a criminal conviction and a lifetime ban. The panel noted that Arnold had given no evidence of active steps in the two and a half years since his November 2022 statement to reduce the risk of repetition, and the decision maker placed considerable weight on that finding. His case sits in the TRA’s published run of voyeurism outcomes, where a conviction alone determines the finding and the only question left is sanction. Unless a future panel sets the order aside after August 2027, he cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.