Jeremy Gibbs

Introduction

Jeremy Gibbs is an English supply teacher who taught art, predominantly to secondary and sixth-form pupils, after being engaged by the supply agency Protocol Education in 2020. In January 2026 a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) found that he had been convicted of making indecent photographs of children — 430 images and videos spanning all three severity categories, the most serious of which involve penetrative sexual activity — and recommended his removal from the profession. The Secretary of State for Education imposed a prohibition order with no provision for a review period, banning Gibbs from teaching indefinitely.

Background Information

Gibbs worked through Protocol Education as a supply teacher from 2020, teaching predominantly art to secondary and sixth-form aged pupils. On 28 September 2023 he was arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children; his electronic devices were seized and inspected, and in police interview he admitted accessing indecent images of children. The police referred the investigation to the TRA on 16 October 2023. He was later convicted at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on 20 August 2024 of three offences under section 1(a) of the Protection of Children Act 1978, receiving a suspended sentence of imprisonment.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings below are regulatory findings made on the balance of probabilities by a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA). The convictions at their heart are court-record facts: the panel accepted a certificate of conviction as conclusive proof, and Mr Gibbs admitted accessing indecent images of children in his police interview and signed a statement of agreed facts on 21 September 2025. They are findings of professional misconduct — the conviction itself is a matter of court record.

The matter came to light on 28 September 2023, when Gibbs was arrested by police under suspicion of possessing indecent images of children. Officers seized and inspected various electronic devices belonging to him, and in interview he admitted accessing indecent images of children. Following the arrest, the police referred its investigation to the TRA on 16 October 2023.

On his laptop, police found 25 still images and 45 videos at Category A — which the Sentencing Council defines as images involving penetrative sexual activity, sexual activity with an animal, or sadism — along with 56 still images and 45 videos at Category B, involving non-penetrative sexual activity, and 105 still images and 154 videos at Category C, covering other indecent images. The police described that the majority of the children appearing in the images were around 10 years old. Gibbs was subsequently charged with ‘making’ the images, contrary to section 1(a) of the Protection of Children Act 1978.

He was convicted of all three offences at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on 20 August 2024. The panel later noted that his behaviour ultimately led to a sentence of imprisonment, albeit suspended, alongside ancillary orders made by the Crown Court — a sentence it viewed as indicative of the seriousness of the offending. Before the panel sat a certificate of conviction from Basildon Crown Court, signed by an officer of the court, which it found “entirely consistent” with the statement of agreed facts and the sentencing remarks; accepting it as conclusive proof, the panel found the allegation proved and the conviction one for ‘relevant offences’.

The panel found Gibbs in breach of the Teachers’ Standards on upholding public trust, treating pupils with dignity, safeguarding pupils’ well-being and acting within statutory frameworks. It noted that “Keeping children safe in education 2023” describes safeguarding as “everyone’s responsibility” and that his actions were “the opposite of this fundamental principle”. His offending was plainly relevant to teaching, the panel found: its victims were young children who had been recorded being sexually abused, and those images were distributed over the internet.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Public interest considerations weighed heavily. The panel cited the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils, the maintenance of public confidence in the profession and the declaration of proper standards of conduct, observing that public confidence “could be seriously weakened” if such conduct were not treated with the utmost seriousness, and that Gibbs’s behaviour was “outside that which could reasonably be tolerated”. It found his offending involved “downloading a large number of images and videos of children being sexually abused (covering all three categories)”. The panel recommended a prohibition order with no provision for a review period. Gibbs provided a reflective statement in which he said he was “deeply ashamed of my conduct” and “want to apologise for any disrepute that I may have caused the teaching profession”. The panel noted that the statement made no reference at all to the children who were the victims of his offences.

Current Status

On 28 January 2026 the panel recommended, and the decision on behalf of the Secretary of State confirmed, that Gibbs should be prohibited from teaching. The prohibition order carries no provision for a review period, so there is no route to apply for a return to the profession. The outcome was published on GOV.UK on 19 February 2026. Gibbs is thereby barred from working as a teacher in English schools, and the published finding of a relevant conviction stands against his name, with the panel’s findings of fact and its breaches of the Teachers’ Standards all matters of public record.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The prohibition order ends Gibbs’s teaching career: a teacher prohibited by the Secretary of State may not work as a teacher in England, and agencies such as Protocol Education can no longer engage him for classroom work. The conviction carries consequences beyond the classroom as well — the Crown Court’s suspended sentence of imprisonment and the ancillary orders made alongside it remain matters of criminal record. With the conviction, the published prohibition and no review period available, any return to teaching is impossible.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Jeremy Gibbs,” published 19 February 2026 — source