William Atkins

Introduction

William Atkins is a former Head of Science whose teaching career ended with a lifetime ban from the classroom despite an acquittal at trial. He led the science department at Malbank School and Sixth Form College from September 2015 to August 2017. In August 2017 he was arrested on suspicion of making, distributing and possessing indecent images of children; at Chester Crown Court in February 2021 a jury acquitted him of three charges and was discharged without a verdict on a fourth, and he was never convicted of a criminal offence. In May 2025 a Teaching Regulation Agency panel, applying the civil standard, found the allegations proved, and he was prohibited from teaching indefinitely.

Background Information

Atkins was employed at Malbank School and Sixth Form College from September 2015 until August 2017, running its science department. His date of birth is recorded as 13 August 1980, making him thirty-six at the time of his arrest, and his Teaching Regulation Agency reference is given as 18255. The published decision says nothing of his training or earlier career. The panel received no references but treated him as of good character, and no doubt was cast upon his abilities as a teacher; it also noted evidence of personal problems during this period and a record of good teaching performance.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Acquitted at trial; banned by the regulator on the civil standard. The allegations were not admitted, and Atkins was neither present nor represented at the hearing held in public on 28 and 29 May 2025; the panel assessed the evidence on the balance of probabilities after a criminal jury had acquitted him of three of the four charges he faced.

The case began with the August 2017 arrest, on suspicion of making, distributing and possessing indecent images of children. Atkins was charged with four counts: making indecent photographs of children — four Category A images, the most serious category, and one Category B image, found on a tablet — and two counts of possessing extreme pornographic images depicting bestiality, one on a tablet and one on a CD-Rom. He pleaded not guilty. Following a trial at Chester Crown Court in February 2021, the jury returned not guilty verdicts on counts 1 to 3 but was unable to reach a verdict on count 4 and was discharged. He was not convicted of any criminal offence; the conduct was nevertheless investigated by the Teaching Regulation Agency.

The panel found allegation 1a proved on the basis that Atkins made indecent images of children: four Category A images of girls aged 4 to 7 being penetrated and one Category B sexualised naked image of a girl aged 4 to 5, located on a Google Nexus tablet where they had been viewed on the device. The panel found it more likely than not that he accessed those images knowing them to be, or likely to be, indecent, while stating plainly that he did not possess them: they could not be retrieved without specialist software and he had no custody or control of them. Possession of extreme pornography was found proved separately: two bestiality videos on a CD-Rom burnt on 5 June 2006 and marked “Will’s disk”, whose contents Atkins admitted viewing on a shared university computer around 2006, and a bestiality video downloaded at 00:41 on 13 May 2017 on the Google Nexus tablet, of which he was the primary user.

The third proved particular concerned searches. A Samsung mobile phone held numerous searches for sexual and violent content between 2015 and 2016, all made between 23:00 and 09:30, including “teacher forced”, “young schoolgirl”, “piano teacher forces teen”, “young lesbian schoolgirl teacher” and “forced schoolgirl porn”. Atkins denied making them, noting his devices were not always exclusively controlled by him or password protected, but the panel held that the volume, nature and timings of the searches — particularly on a phone, which one is unlikely to be away from for long — made it “inherently unlikely” that anyone other than Atkins was responsible. A Samsung tablet also recorded, in its dynamic dictionary as at 24 June 2010, blocks of text indicating a sexual interest in young people; the panel described this as “troubling and disturbing” but found no clear link between the text and the allegations. Allegation 2, that the conduct was sexually motivated, was found proved.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The findings placed the case among the most serious the regulator handles. The panel found the conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, in breach of the Teachers’ Standards on safeguarding and public trust, and noted that although the conduct took place outside school there was no suggestion that any pupil was exposed to harm. It concluded that making indecent child abuse images and possessing extreme pornography raised obvious and significant public and child protection concerns, and that Atkins’ actions were “fundamentally incompatible with his being a teacher”. It received no evidence of insight, treated him as of good character, and recommended prohibition with immediate effect and no review period. On 30 May 2025 David Oatley, deciding on behalf of the Secretary of State, prohibited Atkins from teaching indefinitely with no entitlement to apply for restoration.

Current Status

Atkins 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 he was ruled not entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach; his only recourse was an appeal to the High Court within 28 days of notice. The decision, dated 30 May 2025, is published on GOV.UK and takes effect from service on him. The acquittal stands alongside it: he has no criminal convictions, and the jury’s discharge on the fourth count was never resolved by retrial in the published record. The decision maker gave weight to the absence of insight, finding some risk of repetition of the behaviour.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The prohibition ended the teaching career that had carried him to head of department by his mid-thirties and forecloses any teaching work in England for life. The panel found evidence of an entrenched and long-standing interest in extreme or indecent content spanning many years, describing a deep-seated attitude with the potential to lead to harmful behaviour, and gave this more weight than his record of good teaching performance. The case also illustrates the boundary between the criminal and regulatory systems: conduct the state could not prove beyond reasonable doubt was still found proved on the balance of probabilities, with a permanent ban that outlasts the acquittal.

Sources

• Department for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr William Atkins” — source