William Nulty

Introduction

William Nulty was a primary school teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School in Bury, Greater Manchester, who joined as a supply teacher in January 2020 and was later employed directly by the school. In April 2025 he was convicted at Minshull Street Crown Court of nine sexual offences committed against a girl under 13 between 2010 and 2012 — before he ever entered the classroom. In September 2026 a Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel sat in his absence, found the convictions proved, and the Secretary of State’s decision maker prohibited him from teaching for life with no right ever to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Nulty, born in June 1994, began at Our Lady of Lourdes as a supply class teacher in January 2020, moving onto the school’s permanent staff that November. On 17 July 2022 police received a disclosure about him; he attended a police station voluntarily two days later. The school suspended him on 1 September 2022 and dismissed him on 28 September 2022 while the police investigation was still running. The offences the case ultimately concerned dated from August 2010 to August 2012, when Nulty was a teenager, and the panel noted the victim was a child at the time who would herself have been a pupil then — though not taught by him, given the offences predated his teaching career.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted of nine child sexual offences. On 3 April 2025 Minshull Street Crown Court convicted Nulty of three counts of sexual assault of a female child under 13, two counts of causing or inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity without penetration, and four counts of assault of a child under 13 by penetration — all relating to the same period between 2010 and 2012.

He was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years, with 300 hours of unpaid work and 20 days of rehabilitation activity. At the TRA hearing on 11 September 2026, held virtually and in his absence — Nulty was neither present nor represented — the panel had before it the certificate of conviction, the contents of which were undisputed; he had accepted he had been found guilty. The panel found the allegations proved on that basis and observed that, whatever his record inside the school, where the referral form recorded “no issues about Mr Nulty,” the offences were criminal sexual offences committed against a child.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel recommended that no review period be attached to any prohibition order, citing the Advice’s treatment of serious sexual misconduct and any sexual misconduct involving a child as cases where the public interest weighs against offering a route back. It noted that Nulty provided no statements attesting to his character or abilities as a teacher, and that the behaviour would have affected the safety and security of a victim who was a child at the time. The decision maker, Marc Cavey, writing for the Secretary of State, gave considerable weight to “the very serious nature of the panel’s findings” and to the lack of evidence of insight or remorse and the risk of repetition, concluding that publication alone could not satisfy public confidence in the profession.

Current Status

On 14 September 2026 Marc Cavey prohibited Nulty from teaching indefinitely, barring him from any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. Unusually, the order also removed the normal escape valve: because of the seriousness of the findings, Nulty is not entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach at any point, meaning the ban has no review route at all. The order takes effect from the date it is served on him, and he holds a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days of being given notice.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Nulty lost his teaching post in September 2022 when the school dismissed him mid-investigation, was convicted of the nine offences in April 2025 under a suspended sentence, and in September 2026 lost the profession permanently. The case is a study in delayed exposure: conduct from 2010–2012, long before he qualified, ended a career that began in 2020 and had until July 2022 generated no concerns at his school. Because the conviction concerns a child victim, the ban is one of the sternest the regime issues — life, with the application right stripped out entirely.

Sources

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