Unknown Teacher

The Secretary of State does not make these decisions himself. They are made by a senior official on the recommendation of an independent panel.

Teacher reference number:

1434102

Teacher's date of birth:

16 June 1986

Location teacher worked:

Wolverhampton, West Midlands

Date of professional conduct panel:

13 February 2013

Outcome type:

Prohibition order

Prohibition order effective:

15 February 2013

Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with The Teacher's’ Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012, a professional conduct panel was convened to consider the case of Mr Gregory Worwood, formerly employed in Wolverhampton, West Midlands.

The proceedings were held at 53-55 Butts Road, Earlsdon Park, Coventry, CV1 3BH at 9.30am on 13 February 2013. The meeting was held in private but a decision announced in public.

Teacher misconduct

Ground Floor, South

Cheylesmore House

5 Quinton RoadCoventryCV1 2WT

Email TRA.Casework@education.gov.uk

Telephone 020 7593 5393

Information about regulating the teaching profession and the process for dealing with serious teacher misconduct.

1 THE TEACHING AGENCY Decision of a Professional Conduct Panel and the Secretary of State Teacher: Mr Gregory Worwood Teacher ref no: 09/83957 Teacher date of birth: 16 June 1986 TA Case ref no: 9160 Date of Determination: 13 February 2013 Former Employer: St Edmund’s Catholic School, Wolverhampton A. Introduction A Professional Conduct Panel (“the Panel”) of the Teaching Agency convened on Wednesday 13 February 2013 at 53-55 Butts Road, Earlsdon Park, Coventry, CV1 3BH to consider the case of Mr Gregory Worwood. The Panel members were Mr John Pemberton (Teacher Panellist – in the Chair), Ms Gill Goodswen (Teacher Panellist) and Mr Martin Greenslade (Lay Panellist). The Legal Adviser to the Panel was Mr Paddy Roche of Morgan Cole LLP Solicitors. The meeting took place in private and the announced decision was recorded. B. Allegations The Panel considered the allegations set out in th e Notice of Meeting dated 18 January 2013. It was alleged that Mr Gregory Worwood was guilty of Conviction, at any time of a relevant offence in that he was convicted of the following offences:- Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years 2 Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. 3 Offence: Distributing indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of children on 28/04/11 (Protection of Children Act 1978 s.1) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Mr Worwood signed a Statement of Agreed Facts in which he stated that he admitted the particulars of the allegation and that they amounted to Conviction of Relevant Offences. C. Summary of Evidence In advance of the meeting the Panel received a bundle of documents which included:- Section 1 Chronology. Page 2. Section 2 Notice of Referral and Response. Pages 4 to 8c. Section 3 Statement of Agreed Facts/Representations. Pages 10 to 19. Section 4 Teaching Agency Documents. Pages 21 to 104 D. Panel’s Decision and Reasons The Panel announced its decision and reasons as follows: We have now carefully considered the case before us and have reached a decision. We confirm that we have read all the documents provided in the bun dle in advance of the hearing. Findings of fact Mr Worwood admits the facts of the allegation, namely that he has been convicted of the following offences: Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. 4 Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. Offence: Possessing an indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of a child on 27/05/08 - 22/09/11 (Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.160) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. 5 Offence: Distributing indecent photograph or Pseudo-photograph of children on 28/04/11 (Protection of Children Act 1978 s.1) Court: Wolverhampton Crown Court on 17/07/2012 Sentence: Imprisonment 18 months, Sex offenders notice 10 years; Disqualified from working with children, sexual offences prevention order 5 years Forfeiture and destruction computer equipment seized. We find the facts of the allegations proved ba sed on the teacher’s admission, the Statement of Agreed Facts, the PNC Printout and the Certificate of Conviction. Findings as to Conviction of a Relevant Offence Mr Worwood admits that the convictions were for relevant offences. We are satisfied that the convictions were for relevant offences for the following reasons:  These were serious offences which involved viewing the most degrading images of children.  Mr Worwood was sentenced to a term of immediate imprisonment.  Mr Worwood in behaving in this way fell far below the personal and professional standards the public expect teachers to observe.  By behaving as he did Mr Worwood has undermined public confidence in the profession even though these activities occurred outside the school environment.  He has shown no regard at all for maintaining the high standards of ethics and behaviour all teachers are expected to observe and failed to demonstrate respect for the rights of others. Panel’s Recommendation to the Secretary of State We have carefully considered all of the case papers and recognise that Mr Worwood was compliant and straightforward in his dealings with the school acknowledging at an early stage that he had possessed and shared information over the internet with others. Nonetheless we are very anxious indeed about his conduct and his suitability to return to the profession. The case papers disclose that over a period of more than 3 years Mr Worwood was accessing a huge number of images and videos of children. The images and videos were graded as to their content. In the overall total of 730 images and movies 320 were graded as level 4 thus involving penetrative sexual activity between a child or children or both children and adults. 15 movies were assessed at the highest level showing images of sadism or penetration of, or by, an animal. This was therefore not an isolated aberration on the part of Mr Worwood and we are driven to the conclusion that he cannot be allowed to return to the teaching profession under any circumstances. We have a dut y to the public particularly to ensure that pupils with whom he may come into contact in the future must be protected. That consideration is of absolutely paramount importance and we therefore recommend that a 6 Prohibition Order is imposed in this case with out limit of time. We have considered the principle of proportionality and taken account of the teacher’s interests and his age but have decided that in the grave circumstances disclosed by the case papers such an order is justified in the interests of the public. In our judgement Mr Worwood is wholly ill equipped to work with children. Secretary of State’s Decision and Reasons I have given very careful consideration to this case. Mr Worwood was convicted for possession of indecent photographs of children. This was not an isolated incident but continued for a period of more than 3 years. This is clearly a very serious case and one which shows that Mr Worwood has very seriously breached the standard of behaviour expected of a teacher. It is in the public interest that Mr Worwood be prohibited from teaching. Moreover in the light of the seriousness of the offences there should be no review period. This means that Mr Gregory Worwood is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school , sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England . Furthermore, in view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, I have decided that Mr Gregory Worwood shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. This Order takes effect from the date on which it is served on the Teacher. Mr Gregory Worwood has a right of appeal to the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days from the date he is given notice of this Order. NAME OF DECISION MAKER: Alan Meyrick DATE: 14 February 2013