Robert Howe

Introduction

Robert Howe was lead teacher of geography at Tudor Grange Academy in Worcester from November 2017 until 21 May 2021. In April 2021, while still in post, he spent more than a week exchanging messages with someone he believed was a 15-year-old boy and agreed to meet them to engage in sexual activity. The meeting never happened: the correspondent was an undercover police officer, and Howe was arrested on the day it was due. He pleaded guilty to two offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, was sentenced to two years in prison, and on 19 May 2023 he was banned from teaching in England for life, with no provision for review.

Background Information

Howe was born on 25 July 1986 and held TRA reference 20028. He worked at Tudor Grange Academy, a school in Worcester, as lead teacher of geography from November 2017 until his employment ended on 21 May 2021, the day after he pleaded guilty in the criminal case. His conduct was later examined by the Teaching Regulation Agency, whose professional conduct panels assess whether a teacher is guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and whether the Secretary of State should prohibit them from teaching. Under the framework the panel applied, a conviction for attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child is treated as a relevant offence likely to result in prohibition.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

A relevant conviction for attempted sexual communication with, and arranging to meet, someone he believed was a 15-year-old boy.

Between 13 and 21 April 2021, Howe exchanged messages with an undercover police officer who was purporting to be a 15-year-old boy. Over those eight days the conversation became sexual in nature, and the two agreed to meet in person on 22 April 2021 to engage in sexual activity of a penetrative nature. On the morning of the planned meeting, Howe blocked any further contact from the purported teenager; he was arrested later that day and charged with two offences. On 20 May 2021 he pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, contrary to section 15A(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and to attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence, contrary to section 14 of the same Act. His employment at Tudor Grange Academy ended the following day.

On 17 June 2021 he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and required to comply with sex offender notification requirements for a period of 10 years. When he was sentenced, he was assessed as posing a medium risk to children. The published decision is careful about one point: although the person he had been messaging was not in fact a child, the information available to Howe suggested they were a child, “and as such would have been a pupil at a school”. So far as Howe knew, the person he was arranging to meet was a child of school age. He had no previous convictions and was described in the criminal proceedings as being of good character.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Howe did not contest the regulatory case. He asked the TRA to consider the allegations without a hearing, the agency agreed in the interests of justice and the public interest, and he provided a signed statement of agreed facts, dated 4 October 2022, in which he admitted the convictions. A panel met in private on 12 May 2023, via Microsoft Teams, and found both allegations proved, supported by a certificate of conviction dated 19 May 2022. It found the convictions were for relevant offences and that his conduct breached the Teachers’ Standards, including the duties to safeguard pupils’ wellbeing, observe proper boundaries and not undermine the rule of law. His account of health and personal problems did not mitigate the seriousness of the offending in the panel’s view, and the panel had no evidence of insight or remorse from him. It recommended prohibition with immediate effect and no review period, concluding that publishing the findings alone would unacceptably compromise the public interest.

Current Status

Marc Cavey, the decision maker acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, imposed a prohibition order on 19 May 2023. Howe is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. There is no review period: the decision maker concluded that allowing for no review period was necessary to maintain public confidence and was proportionate and in the public interest, given the seriousness of convictions for attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence, together with the lack of evidence of insight or remorse. Howe is also not entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. The order took effect from the date it was served on him, and he had a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days of notice.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The criminal case and the prohibition order together ended a teaching career of roughly three and a half years. Beyond the two-year prison sentence, the sexual harm prevention order and a decade on the sex offender notification requirements continue to restrict his life long after release. Because the prohibition carries no review provision and expressly bars any application for restoration, it is a permanent feature of his record unless an appeal to the High Court had succeeded. The decision also records that no evidence had been provided showing any reduction in the medium risk to children he was assessed as posing, and that the lack of evidence of insight or remorse weighed heavily in the choice to bar him outright.

Sources

• Department for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Robert Howe” — source