Ryan Benney

Introduction

Ryan Benney — formerly known as Liam Taylor — is a former Plymouth teacher who was banned from teaching for life after being convicted of three counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children. Benney, who taught at Whitleigh Primary School and Sir John Hunt Community from September 2011 until May 2022, admitted the conviction and that it constituted a relevant offence when the case reached the Teaching Regulation Agency; a professional conduct panel accepted his signed admissions at a private meeting on 22 October 2024, and the decision maker imposed an indefinite prohibition order with no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Benney worked as a teacher at the school from 1 September 2011 until 19 May 2022 — nearly eleven years. He was arrested on 23 August 2021 while still employed there. He was convicted on 5 July 2023 at Plymouth Crown Court of three counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children contrary to sections 1(a) and 6 of the Protection of Children Act 1978, the offence recorded under the name Liam Taylor; the statement of agreed facts confirms he thereafter changed his name to Ryan Benney. On 10 August 2023 he was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months, an 18-month supervision period, 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirement, a seven-year requirement to register with the police, a seven-year sexual harm prevention order, and a £115 surcharge.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted, then admitted at the regulator. Benney was convicted at Plymouth Crown Court on 5 July 2023 of three counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children. Before the TRA panel he admitted the conviction and that it amounted to a conviction of a relevant offence, in a signed statement of agreed facts dated 3 April 2024.

The panel’s meeting — held privately on 22 October 2024, with neither the presenting officer nor Benney present, after the TRA agreed to his request to proceed without a hearing — accepted the certificate of conviction as conclusive proof of the offence. One procedural wrinkle drew out an amendment: the original notice had cited section 1(a) of the 1978 Act, but the Crown Court certificate showed the offence fell under section 6 as well, so the panel corrected the allegation wording as a typographical amendment, no prejudice arising since Benney had signed the corrected statement of agreed facts in April 2024. The panel found the behaviour would have an impact on the safety of pupils and the public “given the harm caused to children by the creation of the indecent photographs”, noted that the suspended sentence of imprisonment was itself indicative of the seriousness of the offence, and observed that Benney had provided no further evidence of any exceptional circumstances to question the facts implied by the conviction.

Public Reaction and Consequences

No press coverage attaches to the case beyond the regulator’s own publication. The panel recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect, finding the offence engaged the safeguarding of pupils and the maintenance of public confidence in a profession that works with children; the decision maker, Marc Cavey, agreed the order was necessary and proportionate. In view of the seriousness of the allegation, Cavey also ruled that Benney shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach — and set no review period, closing both routes back to the classroom permanently. The sentence imposed by the criminal court in August 2023 — suspended custody with a seven-year register term and sexual harm prevention order — remains the operative criminal-law consequence, running alongside the teaching ban.

Current Status

Benney is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. The prohibition carries no review provision, and the no-restoration ruling removes even the theoretical application route; short of a successful High Court appeal within 28 days of notice — none appears on the published record — the ban is permanent. The determination was made on 22 October 2024 and amended on 16 December 2024, the amendment reflecting the corrected statutory wording of the conviction. He remains subject to the seven-year sex-offender register and sexual harm prevention order imposed at sentencing, which run into the next decade.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The case follows the standard arc of the conviction route: the criminal court fixes the facts, the regulator’s panel accepts the certificate as conclusive, and the teacher’s own admissions remove any factual contest. What lifts Benney’s ban to the no-review, no-restoration tier is the combination the decision maker identified — an offence involving indecent images of children, committed by a serving primary-school teacher, with the suspended sentence marking court-assessed seriousness. The name change layered into the record — convicted as Liam Taylor, admitted to the regulator as Ryan Benney — is itself part of the public accountability trail, ensuring the prohibition attaches to the person rather than a label. For the profession, it is another entry in the settled rule that image offences, even without any allegation of contact offending, end teaching careers in England outright.

Sources

• Dept for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Ryan Benney” — source