Paul Richardson

Introduction

Paul Richardson worked as a cover supervisor at Woodham Academy in County Durham, a post carrying teaching work, until August 2018, when his resignation on 12 August coincided with a police complaint from a pupil with whom he admitted he had walked hand in hand, kissed, exchanged love messages and — by his own account of a relationship he wanted to marry into — shared a key to his home. He admitted every regulatory allegation, including that the conduct was sexually motivated, and on 4 July 2022 decision maker John Knowles banned him from teaching, with no application to lift the order possible for ten years.

Background Information

Richardson joined Woodham Academy on 1 September 2016 as a cover supervisor. In December 2017 four female pupils raised concerns about his conduct; he was suspended without prejudice, but the school’s investigation found no evidence of professional misconduct and he received only a letter of management advice and guidance. He resigned on 12 August 2018. The same day, a complaint about his conduct towards Pupil C was made to police, and the school was told on 14 August; the Local Authority Designated Officer was informed and the matter reached the Teaching Regulation Agency in October 2018. Between late May and 12 August 2018 he had met Pupil C for walks, held her hand, kissed her lip to lip and cuddled her at his home, sent WhatsApp messages telling her he loved her and wanted to marry her, and gave her a key to his residence. Earlier, in 2017, he had allowed Pupil A to sit on his shoulders during a gymnastics session, told her “nice see through leggings you’ve got there”, told Pupil B “you’re so thick, it’s a good job you’re pretty”, and carried a photo of Pupil B in his phone case, producing it during a GCSE PE lesson with the words “oh look what I found”.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Admitted a sexually motivated course of conduct toward a pupil — walks, hand-holding, kisses, love messages, a marriage talk and a key to his home — after earlier boundary warnings were ignored; banned with a ten-year review period.

Richardson accepted the facts of every allegation in a statement of agreed facts, and the panel found all proved. The pupils’ own accounts corroborated the admissions: Pupil A wrote that the leggings remark “made me feel very uncomfortable and vulnerable”, and in police interview Richardson conceded of the walks, “we held hands, yeah”, and said of the kissing that “It wasn’t the intended outcome it was a sort of trying to support but I’ve realised I missed from way back.” He admitted messaging Pupil C that he loved her and wanted to marry her, and giving her his address key. The panel found the allegation 3 conduct sexually motivated and concluded he had failed to observe a proper boundary appropriate to a teacher’s professional position. It noted he had been given clear management advice by the school in 2017 following the December complaints — advice that said nothing of what was to come, since the investigation had found no misconduct — and had ignored it when he began forming his relationship with Pupil C in 2018.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Richardson did not attend his hearing, which had already been delayed once: a hearing scheduled for March 2021 was told by email he would not attend, and when the case was finally listed for 29 June 2022 he confirmed that morning he could not come because he was taking a relative to hospital. The panel found he had voluntarily waived his right to appear. His request that the hearing be held in private, citing personal circumstances, was refused for want of any supporting medical evidence. The panel found no mitigation or character references were offered, that his actions were deliberate, and that in respect of the allegations against him they were “calculated and motivated”. It identified the public interest factors — safeguarding of pupils, abuse of position or trust, sexual misconduct — as strongly engaged, and recommended prohibition. Knowles imposed the order with a ten-year review period, so the earliest he may apply for it to be set aside is 7 July 2032.

Current Status

Richardson is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. The order, dated 4 July 2022, does not permit him even to apply for its removal until 7 July 2032 — one of the longest review periods the regulator issues, reserved for cases where the decision maker wants a decade between the conduct and any attempt at return. His resignation from Woodham Academy took effect on 12 August 2018, four years before the ban; the police complaint made that same day is recorded in the decision, which notes Pupil C’s evidence but does not record any criminal charge or conviction against him. The regulatory findings themselves — admitted by Richardson — are the authoritative account of the conduct.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The case is a textbook illustration of escalation after a soft first landing: four pupils’ concerns in December 2017 produced an investigation, a finding of no misconduct and a letter of advice — and within eight months the same teacher had begun a relationship-building course of conduct toward another pupil that ended with her holding a key to his home. The panel’s ten-year review recommendation reflects that trajectory: the risk was not a one-off lapse but a pattern that had survived an institutional warning. For schools, it is a caution about closing an investigation with management advice when the underlying behaviour — shoulder rides, remarks on clothing, a pupil’s photograph kept in a phone case — is itself boundary-breaking. For the profession, the decision marks out cover supervisors as squarely within the position-of-trust framework, since the role carries teaching work. The ten-year bar means any return to teaching is, at minimum, a 2032 question.

Sources

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