Paul Corrie

Introduction

Paul Corrie is a former teacher at UTC Oxfordshire in Didcot who was prohibited from teaching indefinitely in April 2024 after a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel confirmed his convictions for making indecent photographs of children and for sexual communication with a person he believed was a 12-year-old girl — who was in fact an undercover police officer. Over roughly seven days he sent sexually explicit messages, photographs of his groin area and a video of himself masturbating to the decoy account. Decision maker Marc Cavey imposed a lifetime ban with no review period and no right to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Corrie worked at UTC Oxfordshire, a university technical college in Didcot. On 5 September 2022 he was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court to 12 months’ imprisonment, and a sexual harm prevention order and a deprivation order were made against him. His convictions comprised two counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children, attempting or engaging in sexual communication with a child, and causing a child under 13 to watch a sexual act, contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The panel noted that the sentence on the final count was downgraded because the recipient of his messages was not actually a child — the decoy was an undercover officer — but considered the offence serious nonetheless.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Corrie’s criminal convictions were proved by certificate of conviction, which the panel was required to accept as conclusive proof of the convictions and the facts necessarily implied by them; no exceptional circumstances were argued.

The underlying conduct, as found by the panel, began when Corrie contacted a profile he believed to be a 12-year-old girl on an online forum. Their communications moved to Snapchat, and over approximately seven days he sent sexually explicit messages, photographs of his groin area — including pictures of his erect penis, both underneath clothes and naked — and a video of himself masturbating. He commented that the profile was sexy and that he was aroused. Separately, the making convictions related to indecent images of children. The case reached the TRA by referral after sentencing, and the panel found all allegations proved on the certificate of conviction.

Public Reaction and Consequences

No press coverage attaches to the case; the published decision is the public record. The consequences ran from the criminal courts to the regulator: 12 months’ imprisonment, the sexual harm prevention order and deprivation order, and then the professional ban. The panel treated the imprisonment as indicative of the seriousness of the offences and noted the lack of evidence of full insight and remorse, which it said indicated a risk of the behaviour being repeated. In mitigation it considered what was offered on Corrie’s behalf but found no circumstances sufficient to make a prohibition order unnecessary or disproportionate.

Current Status

Corrie is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. The decision maker further decided that he shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach, so the ban has no review route. The determination is dated 25 April 2024, with Cavey’s order dated 29 April 2024, effective from service on Corrie. He retains a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days of notice of the order; the published record shows none was filed.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Corrie’s case sits in the category of offending that ends a teaching career twice over: the criminal courts first, with custody and a sexual harm prevention order, then the regulator, which treats a sentence of imprisonment as near-conclusive grounds for a lifetime ban. The decoy scenario — the offences completed against an adult officer posing as a child — did not soften the panel’s view, which expressly recorded the downgrade only to weigh the offences’ continuing seriousness. With no review period and no restoration right, the published decision forecloses any return to teaching in England.

Sources

• Dept for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Paul Corrie” — source