Robert Hanna

Introduction

Robert Hanna is a former head of physics at St Saviour’s and St Olave’s Church of England Secondary School in Southwark, London, who was banned from teaching for life in November 2024 after a Teaching Regulation Agency panel accepted his convictions for causing or inciting sexual activity with a girl aged 13 to 17 while in a position of trust, and five counts of sexual activity with her. Hanna, who was convicted at trial in November 2021 after the pupil gave evidence against him and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, made no admissions at the regulatory stage, did not attend the hearing, and has been stripped of any route back to the classroom.

Background Information

Hanna led the physics department at the Southwark school. The sexual relationship began in June 2018, shortly after the pupil completed her GCSEs, and continued after she returned to the sixth form. It came to light in April 2019 when she disclosed it; the relationship had involved sexual activity on a number of occasions, including at his home and in hotels.

He was arrested and charged, pleaded not guilty, and was convicted following a trial at which Pupil A gave evidence. He was sentenced to a total of three years’ imprisonment. His appeal against the length of the sentence was rejected; his appeal against a sexual harm prevention order succeeded, and so far as the panel was aware no live appeal against the convictions remained before the Court of Appeal.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted at trial of six abuse-of-position sexual offences against a former pupil; no admissions, absent from the regulatory hearing, banned with no review.

On 23 November 2021 Hanna was convicted of causing or inciting sexual activity with a female aged 13 to 17, a person over 18 in a position of trust, committed between August 2018 and April 2019 contrary to section 17 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and of five counts of sexual activity with a female 13 to 17 where the offender does not believe the victim is 18 or over, also abuse-of-position offences under section 16 of the same act across the same period. The panel noted the offences were committed against a former pupil of his school while the abuse-of-trust provisions applied.

The panel also recorded two further convictions from 13 December 2021: four counts of failing to comply with conditions of his shotgun certificate and one count of failing to comply with conditions of his firearm certificate, contrary to the Firearms Act 1968. Hanna made no admissions before the panel; the presenting officer applied to proceed in his absence, which the panel granted. The certificate of conviction was treated as conclusive proof of the offences.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The decision records no social-media reaction; the criminal trial and sentence stand as the public record. Professionally, the panel found all allegations proven and the facts amounted to a relevant conviction. It recommended a prohibition order with no provision for a review period, telling the Secretary of State the misconduct was “particularly serious as they include a finding of a conviction for the relevant offence of sexual activity with a female aged 13-17”. The panel considered that members of the public would be gravely concerned by a teacher’s abuse of his position, and that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if the conduct were not treated with the utmost seriousness.

No mitigation was put before the panel: Hanna provided no response to the allegations, attended nothing, and was unrepresented. The panel identified the abuse of trust, the age disparity and the sexual nature of the offending as aggravating features, and noted his conviction followed a trial — meaning the victim had to give evidence — rather than a guilty plea.

Current Status

Hanna 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 carries no review period, and decision maker David Oatley decided on 29 November 2024 — two days after the 27 November determination — that Hanna shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. His right of appeal lies to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days of notice of the order. The three-year prison sentence was already served or being served by the time of the ban; the failed sentence appeal means the term stood. The firearms-certificate convictions — offences of strict regulatory compliance arising on 1 April 2019, the day the sexual-offence period ended — form part of the same criminal record the panel reviewed.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The lifelong ban permanently ends Hanna’s teaching career in England and, with no restoration right, forecloses even the delayed application route most prohibited teachers retain. The case’s trajectory — arrest, trial, conviction on the victim’s testimony, a rejected sentence appeal, then regulatory annihilation — spans from the April 2019 disclosure to the November 2024 order. For St Saviour’s and St Olave’s, the case is a late-arriving reckoning: the relationship began when the pupil had just finished Year 11 at the school and resumed as she entered the sixth form Hanna’s school controlled. The published ban means any search of his name surfaces the convictions and the finding that he abused a position of trust for a sexual relationship with a girl the law protected.

Sources

• source — “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Robert Hanna”, GOV.UK, Teaching Regulation Agency, published 27 November 2024.