Mr Daniel Stevenson

Introduction

Mr Daniel Stevenson was an English teacher at Derby Moor Academy in Derby, where he had worked since 1 September 2016. In August 2021 he was convicted of intentionally attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification, having been arrested after communicating with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old child. He admitted the offence before the Teaching Regulation Agency and signed a statement of agreed facts, so his case was considered without a hearing. On 27 June 2024 David Oatley, deciding on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, prohibited him from teaching indefinitely, with no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.

Background Information

The decision records that Mr Stevenson was arrested and interviewed by the police on 31 October 2020 on suspicion of engaging in sexual communication with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old child, and that he was dismissed from his employment with the School on 30 March 2021. He was charged on 12 July 2021. A professional conduct panel convened virtually on 25 June 2024 and, at his own request and with the TRA’s agreement after weighing the public interest and the interests of justice, considered the case at a meeting without a hearing, in private, without the presenting officer or Mr Stevenson present. Before it was a statement of agreed facts signed by Mr Stevenson on 28 May 2024, in which he admitted the facts of the allegation and that the offence amounted to a conviction for a relevant offence. The date of determination is 25 June 2024.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

The offending took place between 15 and 31 October 2020 and was contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 and section 15A(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003: intentionally attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification. On 9 August 2021 Mr Stevenson pleaded guilty and was convicted at South Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court. On 13 October 2021 Derby Crown Court sentenced him to eight months’ imprisonment suspended for 21 months, with 30 days of Rehabilitation Activity, 240 hours of unpaid work, a £156 victim surcharge, and forfeiture and destruction of the mobile phone seized by the police. The sentencing remarks record the judge’s view that ‘culpability in this case is high and the potential for harm is high’, and that Mr Stevenson had been caught out by ‘these people that go around and try and catch out people like yourself’.

The panel accepted the certificate of conviction as conclusive proof and, in light of the admission, found the allegation proven. Although the conduct took place outside the education setting, the panel was satisfied that it ‘still impacted on the way he fulfilled his teaching role’, describing it as conduct ‘at the most serious end of the spectrum, amounting to an egregious breach of the trust placed in him as a teacher’. Its conclusion was blunt: ‘Mr Stevenson’s actions were fundamentally incompatible with his being a teacher.’ The panel found the failing included serious sexual misconduct with an individual who he believed to be a child, and who he exploited for his own sexual gratification.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel weighed genuine mitigation — full admissions to the allegation, a guilty plea in the criminal proceedings, and engagement with a number of agencies in relation to his rehabilitation — against aggravating features that included actions which were pre-meditated and deliberate, a very serious offence involving a child carrying a custodial sentence, and a position of trust in which he was also a role model. It did not consider there to be any relevant mitigating circumstances in relation to the commission of the offence itself. The panel found the seriousness of the offending directly relevant to his ongoing suitability to teach, concluded that prohibition was both proportionate and appropriate, and recommended that a prohibition order be imposed with immediate effect and, because the case involved serious sexual misconduct and sexual misconduct involving a child, without provision for a review period.

Current Status

The decision maker, David Oatley, decided on 27 June 2024 that Mr Daniel Stevenson is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. Agreeing that no review period should be allowed, he found that the serious nature of the offence of which Mr Stevenson was convicted meant that allowing a review period would not be sufficient to achieve the aim of maintaining public confidence in the profession. In view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, he also decided that Mr Stevenson shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. The order takes effect from the date on which it is served, and Mr Stevenson has a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days from the date he is given notice of the order.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Mr Stevenson lost his job at Derby Moor Academy in March 2021, months before he was charged, and the 2024 order forecloses any return to teaching in England: unlike prohibition orders carrying review periods, this one cannot be revisited by application, and the only route remaining is an appeal within 28 days of service. The criminal sentence’s requirements — the suspended order, rehabilitation activity and unpaid work — ran alongside a regulatory bar reflecting the panel’s view that a teacher who seeks sexual communication with someone he believes to be a child cannot remain in the classroom. The panel accepted that no doubt had been cast on his abilities as an educator, but found no evidence that he ought to be regarded as an exceptional practitioner, and gave that contribution little weight against the public and child protection concerns his conviction raised.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Daniel Stevenson” — source