Shakeel Ahmed

Introduction

Shakeel Ahmed was a PE teacher at Saltley Academy in Birmingham from September 1998 until his resignation in May 2017. In February 2022 a Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel found proved, on the balance of probabilities, that he had touched a pupil’s genital area during football lessons, exchanged sexual messages with former pupils, and sexually assaulted a former pupil in a Manchester hotel room — conduct the panel found was sexually motivated. Ahmed, who was acquitted of the parallel criminal charges in 2016 and did not attend the TRA hearing, was prohibited from teaching for life with no review period and no entitlement ever to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Ahmed joined Saltley Academy as a PE teacher in September 1998. Safeguarding concerns about him surfaced repeatedly across nearly two decades: in January 2009 a pupil alleged he had hugged him, put him on his lap and shared a bed with pupils on a school trip; Ahmed was arrested but the CPS declined to prosecute, and a school disciplinary panel issued a written warning confined to procedural matters. In 2013 another pupil disclosed that Ahmed had put his hand on his thigh in a changing room; police found no corroborative evidence and he returned to work. By 2015, complaints from Pupil A and Pupil B led to suspension, criminal charges, and — after his 2016 acquittal — a fresh disciplinary investigation that Ahmed preempted by resigning in May 2017, a week before a governor panel was due to convene.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Found proved by a professional conduct panel after criminal acquittal. A Teaching Regulation Agency panel found that between 2014 and 2015 Shakeel Ahmed touched Pupil A’s genital area through his shorts while playing football against him, asked former pupils sexual questions about masturbation and penis size, drove Pupil B to a Manchester hotel where he stripped naked, told the boy to kiss him “like he would his wife”, kissed him, pulled him on top of him and touched his penis — conduct the panel found was sexually motivated and of a sexual nature. The panel’s civil standard, the balance of probabilities, differs from the criminal standard that acquitted him.

At the February 2022 hearing — held in Ahmed’s absence after he told the TRA “there is no need for a hearing you have my permission to withdrawl my license without wasting any more time or resources” — Pupil A described two incidents in which Ahmed’s fingers brushed his penis during football games, the second lasting around ten seconds. Pupil B described the July 2015 hotel visit: Ahmed stripped naked on entering the room, became frustrated when the boy refused to remove his clothes, and assaulted him. The panel found both pupils “credible and truthful witnesses” and could think of “no reason” for either to lie. The panel also noted Ahmed had told the boys’ school he was “never going back into the teaching profession or working with children again so really do not care about what ever decision you make”.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found the proven conduct breached the Teachers’ Standards and safeguarding guidance, and found the offences of sexual communication with a child and sexual activity relevant under the Secretary of State’s advice. It weighed eight character statements from former colleagues and pupils — one called him “one of a handful of outstanding teachers at the school” — but gave them no weight because they were over six years old and never intended for these proceedings. Pupil B told the panel: “ever since that day I have led a miserable life, he has stolen my happiness and I feel constantly depressed”. Pupil A said: “since the trial, I have changed a lot as a person. I am always moody or just angry at everything and my ability to trust people has diminished.” The panel recommended prohibition with immediate effect and no review period, finding Ahmed had shown no remorse.

Current Status

Decision maker Sarah Buxcey, acting for the Secretary of State on 18 February 2022, imposed a prohibition order: Ahmed “is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England”. Because of the seriousness of the findings, she ruled that he “shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach” — a lifelong ban with no route back. The decision expressly rests on the civil standard: the 2016 acquittal on two counts of sexual activity with a pupil and one count of sexual assault does not bar the panel’s separate findings, which it made on the balance of probabilities from live witness evidence.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Ahmed’s resignation in May 2017 ended a nineteen-year career at a single school, and the February 2022 prohibition order forecloses the profession permanently — with no review period and no restoration route, an outcome reserved for the most serious safeguarding findings. The decision records that the panel found his actions “calculated and motivated”, his apology undercut by his own statement that he did not care what the regulator decided, and the harm to his victims enduring years after the events. No further public professional role for Ahmed is recorded.

Sources

• Department for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Shakeel Ahmed” — source