Paul Michael Stubbings

Introduction

Paul Michael Stubbings is a music teacher and church musician whose career ended in a criminal conviction and a recommended teaching ban. In December 1999, while employed as Master of Music at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, he indecently assaulted a man referred to in the decision as Person A. The police matter was reopened in May 2022, and on 29 January 2025 Stubbings pleaded guilty and was convicted of indecent assault on a man aged 16 or over. On 10 February 2026, a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) found the allegation proved and recommended a prohibition order with no provision for a review period.

Background Information

By December 1999, Stubbings was actively employed as Master of Music at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church. More than two decades later, on 2 September 2022, he commenced employment at Westminster Cathedral Choir School in London as Head of Music. His tenure there was brief: the school suspended him on 5 September 2022, he resigned on 17 November 2022, and the matter was referred to the TRA on 24 November 2022. The case was considered by a panel chaired by Mr Carl Lygo, with Mrs Pamela Thompson and Mrs Joanne Arscott.

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 conviction at the centre of the case is a court-record fact via the certificate of conviction, and Stubbings admitted the allegation — and that it amounted to conviction of a relevant offence — in a statement of agreed facts signed on 22 December 2025. They are findings of professional misconduct — the conviction itself is a matter of court record.

The conduct at the heart of the case dates to 15 December 1999, when Stubbings, then actively employed as Master of Music at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, indecently assaulted Person A after, the panel found, inviting him to stay overnight at his flat and plying him with alcohol. The behaviour involved, the panel noted, “abuse of trust, the use of alcohol to facilitate the offence, and a significant power imbalance, factors which are relevant to the safety and welfare of pupils and Mr Stubbings’ suitability to work with children.”

The matter lay dormant until May 2022, when it was reopened as Person A was willing to provide a statement regarding the incident. By then Stubbings was Head of Music at Westminster Cathedral Choir School: suspended three days into the job, he resigned on 17 November 2022, and the school referred the matter to the TRA a week later. On 29 January 2025, he pleaded guilty and was convicted of indecent assault at Westminster Magistrates’ Court; on 2 May 2025, Southwark Crown Court sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years, 300 hours of unpaid work, a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 10 years on the sex offender register.

The TRA allegation was single: that on or around 29 January 2025 Stubbings was convicted of a relevant offence, namely indecent assault on a man aged 16 or over — an allegation he admitted. The TRA agreed to his request that the case be considered without a hearing, and the panel met virtually, in private, on 10 February 2026. Finding no exceptional circumstances to displace the certificate of conviction, it held the allegation proved and the conviction a relevant offence, breaching Teachers’ Standards on upholding public trust and safeguarding pupils’ wellbeing.

Although the offence occurred outside a school setting, the panel found it “remained directly relevant to Mr Stubbings’ position in education, working with children and/or working in an education setting.” Weighing proportionality, it concluded the conduct’s seriousness “significantly outweighed any public interest in retaining him as a teacher”, noting that “he sought to exploit his position of trust”, and recommended a prohibition order with no review period.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The consequences moved across three arenas: the school, the criminal courts and the regulator. The school’s action was swift — Stubbings was suspended on 5 September 2022, three days into the job, and resigned on 17 November 2022. The courts produced a conviction and a sentence the panel noted “ultimately led to a sentence of imprisonment (albeit that it was suspended), which was indicative of the seriousness of the offences committed.” The regulator identified a strong public interest in the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils, the maintenance of public confidence in the profession and the declaration of proper standards of conduct. It warned that public confidence “could be seriously weakened if conduct such as that found against Mr Stubbings was not treated with the utmost seriousness when regulating the conduct of the profession.”

Current Status

The panel’s determination is dated 10 February 2026: the allegation was found proved, the proven facts amounted to a conviction of a relevant offence, and a prohibition order with no provision for a review period was recommended — a ban carrying no fixed point at which it could be revisited. The decision on behalf of the Secretary of State records that the panel was satisfied the conduct involved breaches of the duties set out in statutory safeguarding guidance, including Keeping children safe in education and/or Working Together to Safeguard Children. The sentence imposed at Southwark Crown Court — two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years and a requirement to sign the sex offender register for 10 years — was in force at the time of the decision, published on GOV.UK on 5 March 2026.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Stubbings’ school career collapsed before it began: his Head of Music post ended in suspension within days and resignation within three months. The panel was “provided with no evidence regarding Mr Stubbings’ ability as an educator”, and found his behaviour “fundamentally breached the standard of conduct expected of a teacher”. The recommended prohibition order, with no provision for review, would bar him from teaching permanently. The sentence adds its own long tail: 300 hours of unpaid work, a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement and a decade on the sex offender register.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Paul Michael Stubbings,” published 5 March 2026 — source