Mohamed Dahir Mohamed

Introduction

Mohamed Dahir Mohamed is a former science teacher and subject lead for chemistry at The Kingston Academy in Kingston upon Thames, banned from teaching for life after a conviction for attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child. Mohamed, born in 1991, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to communicating over Omegle and Snapchat with what he believed was a 13-year-old girl — in fact a police decoy profile — escalating from an initial conversation to sexual messages, requests for images and an attempt to meet in person. A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel recommended, and the Secretary of State imposed, a prohibition order with no review period and no right ever to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Mohamed worked at The Kingston Academy from 1 September 2021. Between 12 April and 26 May 2023, he paired on Omegle with a profile presenting as a 13-year-old girl, claimed to be a 19-year-old from North London, and asked for the account’s Snapchat username. The profile had been created by the Metropolitan Police. The interaction escalated over several months from conversation to sexual communications, requests for sexual images, and attempts to arrange a meeting during the school holidays in a park or an Airbnb for sexual activity — a move from online contact to a physical one, the panel noted, “which was only prevented by police intervention because the profile was a decoy”. He was arrested at the school on 8 November 2023; the police confirmed the decoy was not a pupil there.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The conviction at the centre of this case is a court-record fact: Mohamed pleaded guilty at Kingston upon Thames Crown Court on 21 October 2024 and was sentenced on 24 January 2025. He admitted the TRA allegation in his response to the notice of proceedings. The sentencing remarks quoted in the decision are the trial judge’s words.

On 21 October 2024, Mohamed pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, contrary to section 15A(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and was convicted at Kingston upon Thames Crown Court. On 24 January 2025 he was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months, with 12 months of rehabilitation activity, seven years on the sex offender register and a seven-year sexual harm prevention order. The sentencing remarks, quoted by the panel, told him: “You engaged in sexual communications over the Internet with what you believed to be a 13-year-old-girl.” Police traced the Snapchat account through an associated Gmail address to his home address.

The panel rejected any mitigation from the decoy fact: although the child was fictional, “Mr Mohamed believed the online profile to be that of a real child at the time and his conduct had considerable potential to result in serious harm to a child”. The school referred him to the TRA on 9 December 2024. The panel found the offence relevant to teaching since he “had engaged in sexual communication with a young child outside the school environment, who he understood to be 13 years old”, noted the absence of full insight and remorse and a risk of repetition, and recommended a prohibition order with no review period.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The consequence chain ran from a schoolyard arrest — officers took Mohamed from The Kingston Academy itself on 8 November 2023 — through a guilty plea, a suspended custodial sentence and registration requirements, to regulatory erasure. His employment at the school ended on 8 May 2024, while the criminal case was still pending. The panel observed his suspended sentence “was indicative of the seriousness of the offence committed”, and the decision maker placed considerable weight on that finding along with the offence’s “serious nature”, the lack of full insight and the risk of repetition.

Current Status

The panel’s determination is dated 24 February 2026. The Secretary of State’s decision maker, David Oatley, confirmed on 25 February 2026 that no review period was “necessary to maintain public confidence and is proportionate and in the public interest”. Mohamed is prohibited from teaching indefinitely, and “in view of the seriousness of the allegation found proved against him”, shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach — a permanent bar. His seven-year sex offender registration and seven-year sexual harm prevention order remain in force from the 2025 sentence. The decision was published on GOV.UK on 17 March 2026.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Mohamed’s teaching career ended with the May 2024 end of his employment and was formally closed in February 2026 with a ban that can never be revisited. The panel acknowledged evidence of his teaching proficiency and no previous safeguarding concerns during his employment — factors that did not soften the outcome. Beyond the classroom, his sentence leaves him on the sex offender register and under a sexual harm prevention order until 2032.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Mohamed Dahir Mohamed,” published 17 March 2026 — source