Reece Gordon
Introduction
Reece Gordon is a former teaching assistant at Dovecot Primary School in Liverpool who was banned from teaching in England for life in July 2025, after being convicted of making and possessing indecent images of children. A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) professional conduct panel found him guilty of professional misconduct at a meeting on 8 July 2025, and decision maker Sarah Buxcey, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, prohibited him from teaching indefinitely the following day — a bar with no review period and no right ever to apply for restoration.
Background Information
Gordon worked as a teaching assistant at Dovecot Primary School between September 2023 and 29 February 2024, and carried out teaching work during that time. He was born on 1 May 2002, meaning he was still in his early twenties while employed at the school and throughout the criminal proceedings that followed. His teaching career in England ended before it had properly begun: he was referred to the TRA on 8 May 2024, while still awaiting trial.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Adjudicated vs. alleged. Gordon’s convictions were entered at Liverpool Crown Court and are a matter of record, confirmed by a certificate of conviction dated 2 December 2024. He admitted the allegations, and the facts underlying them, in a signed statement of agreed facts; the panel accepted the certificate of conviction as conclusive proof of both the conviction and the facts necessarily implied by it.
On 28 July 2023, police received information that a Dropbox account associated with Gordon’s email address had accessed indecent images of children on the internet; the IP address used to access the images was registered to an address connected to Gordon. Interrogation of his electronic devices found indecent images, and he was charged with three counts of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child, contrary to section 1(a) of the Protection of Children Act 1978, and one count of possessing an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child, contrary to section 160 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. He pleaded guilty and was convicted at Liverpool Crown Court on 9 October 2024.
The panel noted that the offending involved “accessing and making inappropriate images of children over a prolonged period of time”, and that the material included 268 “category A” indecent photographs — the most serious classification. The panel found the offences demonstrated “serious and ongoing safeguarding concerns and serious risks for any children”, and that the behaviour could have had an impact on the safety and security of pupils and members of the public.
The case reached the TRA by way of a notice of meeting dated 12 February 2025, after Gordon requested that the allegations be considered without a hearing. He signed a statement of agreed facts on 18 April 2025 in which he admitted the allegations and that they amounted to a conviction of a relevant offence. The panel — Adnan Qureshi in the chair, with Gill Lyon and Laura Mullin — considered the case at a virtual meeting in private on 8 July 2025, without Gordon, any representative, or the presenting officer present. It found both allegations proved and found the facts amounted to a conviction of a relevant offence, in breach of the Teachers’ Standards covering the treatment of pupils, safeguarding, tolerance and respect for others, fundamental British values, and statutory professional duties.
Public Reaction and Consequences
Gordon was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on 6 November 2024 to ten months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a 60-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 100 hours of unpaid work. He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for ten years and notification requirements for ten years.
The panel found no evidence of insight or remorse, no evidence the offences were out of character — noting they had taken place “over a number of years” — and concluded there was “every risk” the offences would be repeated if he were allowed to continue teaching. It recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect and no review period. On 10 July 2025, decision maker Sarah Buxcey confirmed the recommendation on behalf of the Secretary of State, placing considerable weight on the lack of either insight or remorse and the risk of repetition. She prohibited Gordon from teaching indefinitely, with no review period, and decided he shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.
Current Status
Gordon is prohibited from teaching indefinitely, a bar in force since the decision of 10 July 2025. He cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England, and is not entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. The 28-day window to appeal to the High Court against the order has long since closed.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The prohibition order permanently ends Gordon’s working life in English schools — a career that lasted barely six months — and extends beyond the classroom to youth accommodation and children’s homes. It is a lifetime ban: with no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration, there is no route back to the profession. Alongside the ban, he remains subject to the ten-year sexual harm prevention order and ten-year notification requirements imposed at sentencing in November 2024.
Sources
- Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Reece Gordon” — panel decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State, published 18 August 2025. source