Mr Jon Gordon

Introduction

Mr Jon Gordon was a music teacher at the Anglo European School in Essex. Over the six-year period covered by his indictment, he sexually exploited children online, befriending them on children’s websites under teenage aliases and pressing them for sexual images and acts. Arrested on 7 December 2018, he was convicted at the Crown Court on 24 February 2022 of 45 offences and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment. In November 2024 a Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel found all the allegations against him proven, and the Secretary of State’s decision maker prohibited him from teaching indefinitely, with no entitlement to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Gordon was employed at the Anglo European School in Essex as a music teacher, a role he held throughout the six-year period covered by the indictment. On 7 December 2018 he was arrested on suspicion of two counts of sexual offences and made no comment in a police interview that day. The matter was referred to the Teaching Regulation Agency on 20 December 2018. At a second interview on 22 April 2021 he provided a prepared statement accepting that he was responsible for the online offending attributed to him, and the case proceeded to the Crown Court.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

The panel considered allegations that on 24 February 2022 Gordon was convicted of 45 offences: making, and taking, indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children under the Protection of Children Act 1978, and causing or inciting children under 16 to engage in sexual activity, and causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child aged 13 to 17, under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The indictment dates ran from late 2011 to early 2018, and the panel described the case as involving serious sexual offences against children over a period of six years. Gordon admitted the convictions, and the panel matched the offences to his Police National Computer record before finding the allegations proven.

From the sentencing hearing transcript, the panel set out how Gordon engaged in online sexual conversations with teenage children, who either sent videos or pictures of themselves or were recorded without their knowledge. This included one offence of inciting a penetrative sexual act with a child who stated he was 13 and had mental health problems. Gordon used two aliases, one of a teenage boy and one of a teenage girl, choosing between them depending on the sex of the child he was speaking to. He befriended children on children’s websites and then asked them to move to Skype; in one instance he suggested a child travel to meet him. Police found over 6500 chat logs on his devices, from which they determined there were 63 UK-based victims and many more international victims. Other indecent images of children had been culled from the web, some as young as five years’ old. His devices had “software to disguise his location, to remove files from his computer and to his IP address when searching or browsing the dark web”. The judge’s sentencing remarks record that Gordon gave no thought to the children’s privacy and how they would feel when they realised they had been manipulated and lied to; some of the victims believed themselves to be in a relationship with him.

The panel observed that Gordon’s offending had continued up to the hours before his arrest. He gave a guilty indication at the magistrates’ court and guilty pleas at the plea and trial preparation hearing. His mitigation included a 10 hour course, completed between January and April 2019, covering “Offending behaviour, compulsive and addictive behaviour, the role of fantasy in internet sexual offending” and related themes. In his prepared statement to police he had said: “I started to go online approximately ten years ago. This will be a guess as to when my offending started”, and “I will have been responsible for all the online sexual offending that is capable of being attributed to me.” On 24 May 2024 he wrote to the presenting officer to state that he “will not contest the inevitable decision to prohibit me from further involvement with the teaching profession. I sincerely apologise to everyone affected by my actions and deeply regret the impact they have had.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found that Gordon’s conduct breached the Teachers’ Standards, including observing proper boundaries appropriate to a teacher’s professional position, safeguarding pupils’ well-being, and showing tolerance of and respect for the rights of others. It considered the case “a very serious case”, finding that Mr Gordon was a “prolific serial offender who only stopped when he was arrested by the police”. Whatever his abilities as an educator, the panel held that the adverse public interest considerations outweighed any interest in retaining him in the profession, since his behaviour fundamentally breached the standard of conduct expected of a teacher, “having preyed upon children for his own sexual gain”. The panel recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect and no review period. On 2 December 2024 Sarah Buxcey, deciding on behalf of the Secretary of State, concluded that a prohibition order was proportionate and in the public interest, and imposed it.

Current Status

Mr Jon Gordon is prohibited from teaching indefinitely. He cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England, and, in view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, he is not entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. The order takes effect from the date it is served on him, and he has a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days of notice. His 2022 sentence also imposed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, required him to sign the sex offenders’ register for life, and automatically disbarred him from working with children.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Gordon’s teaching career is over. The panel found no evidence of his record as a teacher and no previous regulatory findings against him, and concluded that publishing its findings alone would unacceptably compromise the public interest. The prohibition bans him from teaching in England for life, while the criminal sentence runs separately: eight years’ imprisonment, lifelong registration as a sex offender, and an automatic bar on working with children. The panel found that his sexual interest in children demonstrated conduct outside anything the profession could reasonably tolerate.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Jon Gordon” — source