Richard Cosburn

Introduction

Richard Cosburn is a former teacher who worked in a series of Norfolk teaching roles from 1995 until 2019, most recently recorded by the Teaching Regulation Agency as Stradbroke Primary Academy in Great Yarmouth, and who is now banned from teaching for life. In February 2023 a crown court jury convicted him of twenty-three offences against children, including eight counts of rape of a child under 13, and in July 2023 he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of twelve years. In January 2025 a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency found the conviction amounted to a relevant offence, and the decision maker acting for the Secretary of State imposed a prohibition order with no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration.

Background Information

The TRA decision records that Cosburn worked in various teaching roles from 1995 to 2019, and names his former employer as Stradbroke Primary Academy, Great Yarmouth. The offending behaviour described in the decision occurred between 2001 and 2016 — entirely outside his final school posting — and he was arrested on 9 October 2020. The panel convened on 6 January 2025 by way of a virtual hearing in public; Cosburn was neither present nor represented. He had earlier signed a notice of referral form indicating he wanted the allegations considered without a hearing, but because he never returned a statement of agreed facts the panel proceeded with the listed hearing, and it concluded that his absence was voluntary and that an adjournment would not procure his attendance.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted, not alleged. Cosburn was convicted by a jury at Norwich Crown Court on 9 February 2023 of 23 offences: four counts of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, one count of sexual assault of a child under 13, one count of sexual assault of a child, eight counts of rape of a child under 13, three counts of taking indecent photographs of a child, one count of indecent assault on a male person, two counts of rape, and three counts of making indecent photographs of a child. He was sentenced on 19 July 2023 to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 12 years.

The panel accepted the certificate of conviction from Norwich Crown Court as conclusive proof of both the conviction and the facts necessarily implied by it, finding no exceptional circumstances to displace that presumption. It noted expressly that there were no allegations specifically relating to Cosburn’s own pupils — the victims were young children outside his schools — but found that the work of a teacher involves working with vulnerable children and that his conduct “ran counter to what should have been at the very core of his practice as a teacher with a duty of care towards children”. The panel recorded that his behaviour “ultimately led to a sentence of imprisonment, which was indicative of the seriousness of the offences committed”, and that the child protection and public protection issues engaged by his actions were demonstrated by the court’s sentence. No mitigation evidence or mitigating circumstances were provided to the panel at all.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case attracted no published press coverage in the materials before the panel, and the regulator’s own record is the principal public account of the proceedings. The consequences are nonetheless among the most severe the regulator can impose. The panel recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect, having found a strong public interest in the safeguarding of pupils and the protection of the public given “serious sexual offences against children”. The decision maker, Sarah Buxcey, agreed that a prohibition order was proportionate and in the public interest, and went further than the panel by ruling that Cosburn should not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach — closing even the theoretical route back to the classroom.

Current Status

Cosburn, born December 1966, is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of twelve years imposed at Norwich Crown Court on 19 July 2023, and is prohibited from teaching indefinitely in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. The prohibition order carries no review period, and the decision maker’s ruling removes his entitlement to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. He retains a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days of being given notice of the order; the published record shows no appeal. The TRA’s determination is dated 6 January 2025, with the decision maker’s order issued on 7 January 2025.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A teaching career spanning nearly a quarter of a century ended in a virtual hearing Cosburn chose not to attend, on findings built on a jury’s verdict rather than a regulator’s assessment. Because the conviction route accepts the certificate of conviction as conclusive proof, the panel had no findings to weigh — only a sentence that itself signalled the gravity of the offending. The case sits at the top of the TRA’s sanction ladder on every axis: the most serious category of sexual offending against children, a life sentence, an indefinite ban, and the removal of any entitlement to seek restoration. For the profession, it is an example of the regulator acting on offences committed entirely outside school — against children who were never his pupils — on the principle that a teacher’s duty of care to children does not stop at the school gate.

Sources

• Dept for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Richard Cosburn” — source