Mr Sukhwinder Singh

Introduction

Mr Sukhwinder Singh was a maths teacher at Boldon School in Boldon, where he began employment on 1 September 2020. In June 2024 a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency found proved that he had been convicted of a relevant offence: attempting to engage and/or engaging in sexual communications with a child, contrary to section 15A(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. He admitted the allegation in a signed statement of agreed facts. On 28 June 2024, deciding on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, David Oatley prohibited him from teaching indefinitely with no review period, and decided he shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.

Background Information

The panel convened virtually on 25 June 2024. The TRA had agreed to a request from Mr Singh that the allegations be considered without a hearing; he provided a statement of agreed facts signed on 26 March 2024, admitting the facts of the allegation and that the offence amounted to a conviction for a relevant offence. The panel considered the case at a meeting in private, without the presenting officer or Mr Singh. The allegation was set out in a notice of meeting dated 17 June 2024.

On 28 February 2023, Mr Singh was arrested by police at his home address on suspicion of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a 13-year-old child online between 24 January and 22 February 2023. He was charged on 10 May 2023, pleaded guilty and was convicted at South Shields Magistrates’ Court on 24 May 2023, and was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on 23 June 2023. He resigned from the School with immediate effect on 4 July 2023.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

The offence arose from messages Mr Singh sent to an individual he believed to be a 13-year-old child. The panel was presented with those messages and noted that he accepted several photos were sent to the child from within his classroom. The certificate of conviction from Newcastle Crown Court confirmed the conviction, which the panel accepted as conclusive proof. The sentence was four months’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months, with 35 days on the Horizon programme, 30 days of Rehabilitation Activity, notification requirements for seven years, a seven-year sexual harm prevention order, and possible barring from working with children and/or vulnerable adults.

The panel had before it the sentencing remarks of the judge. The judge told him: “Clearly, and it’s properly conceded, this crossed the custody threshold, being so serious that only a sentence of imprisonment is appropriate. Neither a fine or community order is an appropriate sentence because there was sustained contact with someone you believed to be just 13 years old”. The remarks recorded the sexual content of the messages — he repeatedly asked for images and said that if he were her teacher she would bend over so he could see up her skirt. As the court recognised, Mr Singh “believed that he was in touch with a 13-year-old, made suggestive comments, and asked for photos”.

The panel’s aggravating features: his actions were pre-meditated and deliberate; he initiated first contact with the child; he solicited explicit images from a child; he engaged in the communications while on school premises and disclosed his profession to the child; and, despite the child disclosing her age on a number of occasions, he repeatedly engaged in sexual communication with her. In mitigation it noted his engagement with rehabilitation agencies, his guilty plea at the first possible opportunity, full admissions to the TRA, and that his conduct may be seen as an isolated episode in an otherwise unblemished teaching career — yet found no relevant mitigating circumstances in the commission of the offence itself.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found the conviction breached the Teachers’ Standards on public trust and safeguarding, and noted that a conviction involving sexual communication with a child, or leading to a suspended custodial sentence, is a relevant offence under the Advice. It considered his actions an abuse of a position of trust: the conviction was extremely serious in nature and involved an individual he believed to be a child, and his conduct ran counter to what should be at the very core of the practice of a teacher with a duty of care towards children. The conduct was very clearly at the most serious end of the spectrum, amounting to an egregious breach of the trust placed in him as a teacher, and his actions were fundamentally incompatible with his being a teacher. It recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect and no review period.

Current Status

On 28 June 2024 David Oatley decided on behalf of the Secretary of State that Mr Sukhwinder Singh is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. On the review period, he recorded the panel’s finding that the behaviours of “serious sexual misconduct” and “any sexual misconduct involving a child” both apply in this case, and that where proven these behaviours militate against allowing a review period; in his judgment, the serious nature of the offence meant that allowing a review period is not sufficient to achieve the aim of maintaining public confidence in the profession. No review period was therefore necessary and proportionate. Furthermore, in view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, Mr Singh shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach — the prohibition applies for life. The order takes effect from the date it is served, and he has a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days of notice of the order.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Unlike most prohibition orders, this one carries no route back: there is no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration, so the bar on Mr Singh teaching in England is effectively permanent. His teaching career had already ended with his resignation from Boldon School on 4 July 2023, days after sentencing. Beyond the classroom, the criminal sentence imposed a suspended prison term, rehabilitation requirements, seven years of notification requirements and a seven-year sexual harm prevention order, with possible barring from work with children and vulnerable adults. The panel acknowledged his engagement with rehabilitation and his early guilty plea, but concluded there was not a strong public interest in retaining him in the profession, given the nature of the offence and the absence of evidence that he ought to be regarded as an exceptional practitioner.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Sukhwinder Singh” — source