Mr Zafar Aslam

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

Teacher's name: Mr Zafar Aslam

Teacher reference number: 0513798

Teacher's date of birth: 12 November 1979

Location teacher worked: Bradford, Yorkshire and the Humber

Date of professional conduct panel: 29 August 2024

Outcome type: Prohibition order

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 Zafar Aslam formerly employed in Bradford, Yorkshire and the Humber.

Teacher misconduct

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Telephone 020 7593 5393

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

Mr Zafar Aslam: Professional conduct panel outcome Panel decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education August 2024 2 Contents Introduction 3 Allegations 4 Preliminary applications 4 Summary of evidence 4 Documents 4 Witnesses 5 Decision and reasons 5 Findings of fact 6 Panel’s recommendation to the Secretary of State 8 Decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State 12 3 Professional conduct panel decision and recommendations, and decision on behalf of the Secretary of State Teacher: Mr Zafar Aslam Teacher ref number: 0513798 Teacher date of birth: 12 November 1979 TRA r eference: 20691 Date of determination: 29 August 2024 Former employer: Co-op Academy Grange, Bradford Introduction A professional conduct panel (“the panel”) of the Teaching Regulation Agency (“the TRA”) convened on 29 August 2024 by way of a virtual hearing, to consider the case of Mr Zafar Aslam. The panel members were Ms Aruna Sharma (teacher panellist – in the chair), Mrs Lauren Gray (lay panellist) and Mr Paul Burton (lay panellist). The legal adviser to the panel was Mr Graham Miles of Blake Morgan LLP solicitors. The presenting officer for the TRA was Miss Alecsandra Manning-Rees of Kingsley Napley LLP solicitors. Mr Aslam was present and was not represented. The hearing was recorded and took place in public save that some parts of the submissions of Mr Aslam were given in private. 4 Allegations The panel considered the allegations set out in the notice of proceedings dated 13 June 2024. It was alleged that Mr Zafar Aslam had been convicted of a relevant offence, in that: 1. On 1 April 2023 he was convicted at West Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court for the offence of attempt/ engage in sexual communication with a child contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 s15A (1). 2. On 1 April 2023 he was convicted at West Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court for the offence of attempt/ cause child under 13 to watch sexual act contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 s12(1)(a). Mr Aslam admitted that he had been convicted of the two offences. He also admitted that the convictions were for relevant offences. Preliminary applications As to whether part of the hearing should be in private The panel considered an application on behalf of Mr Aslam that the hearing should go into private session when evidence is given, or submissions are made relating to matters of [REDACTED]. There was no objection by the Presenting Officer to the hearing going into private session for those discrete issues whilst the rest of the hearing would take place in public. The panel agreed that, in respect of those discrete issues the public interest in the hearing taking place in public was outweighed by Mr Aslam’s rights of privacy and those of [REDACTED]. The remainder of the hearing would be held in public. Summary of evidence Documents In advance of the hearing, the panel received a bundle of documents which included: Section 1: Chronology and list of key people – pages 3 to 4 Section 2: Notice of Hearing and response – pages 5 to 19 Section 3: Teaching Regulation Agency documents – pages 20 to 126 Section 5: Teacher documents – pages 127 to 138 5 The panel members confirmed that they had read all of the documents within the bundle, in advance of the hearing. In the consideration of this case, the panel had regard to the document Teacher Misconduct: Disciplinary Procedures for the Teaching Profession 2020, (the “Procedures”). Witnesses There were no witnesses. Decision and reasons The panel announced its decision and reasons as follows: The panel has carefully considered this case and reached a decision. Mr Zafar Aslam was employed on a fixed term contract as a Teacher of English at Co-op Academy Grange, Bradford (“the School”). On 8 February 2022, Mr Aslam was arrested by the police at his home address in relation to allegedly engaging in sexual communications with a child and attempting to cause a child to watch an image of sexual activity. His laptops were seized. He was interviewed under caution the same day, but declined to make any comment. He was then placed on police bail whilst the police investigation was conducted. His bail was subject to conditions that he was unable to have any unsupervised contact or electronic contact with anyone aged under 18. Having been suspended by the School on 9 February 2022, the School terminated his employment on 4 March 2022. This was on the basis that his contract of employment had been frustrated by his inability to perform his role as a Teacher because of his bail conditions. On 18 April 2023, Mr Aslam appeared at West Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court when he pleaded guilty to: 1. attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, and 2. attempting to cause a child under 13 to watch a sexual act. He was then committed to the Crown Court for sentence. On 22 June 2023, Mr Aslam appeared at the Crown Court at Bradford when he was sentenced to an effective total of 14 months imprisonment. 6 Findings of fact The findings of fact are as follows: It was alleged that you have been convicted of a relevant offence, in that: 1. On 1 April 2023 you were convicted at West Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court for the offence of attempt/ engage in sexual communication with a child contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 s15A(1). Mr Aslam admitted that he was convicted of this offence. The panel was also provided with a certificate of conviction from the Crown Court at Bradford and a transcript of the sentencing hearing. The transcript confirmed that Mr Aslam had communicated on social media with an [REDACTED] whom Mr Aslam believed to be a child. The transcript recorded the following description of the offence by Mr Recorder Doig: ‘The communication began on 24 January. Your username was “[REDACTED]”. You started the chat…by saying, “English teacher here”. The conversation on that date was brief. It restarted again and obviously became far more serious on 7 February 2022. On that day, it was made clear to you by [Child A] that she was twelve. You replied, “LOL, Cool. A particularly serious feature of this case is that some of the conversations between you and [Child A] were whilst you were on school premises, a fact confirmed by live images that you sent of the library of the school where you were working. During this conversation at the school, the chat between you turned to sexual matters. You talked about children having teacher crushes, that there are a few girls that like you. You talked to [Child A] about girls sending pictures of themselves to a guy, then will want to “wank” over it and record himself doing so…. This being sent to a person whom you thought was twelve.’ The sentence imposed for this offence was six months imprisonment. The panel found allegation 1 proved. 2. On 1 April 2023 you were convicted at West Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court for the offence of attempt/ cause child under 13 to watch sexual act contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 s12(1)(a). Mr Aslam admitted that he was convicted of this offence and the panel was presented with a copy of the certificate of conviction. The transcript of the sentencing hearing included the following description of the offence by Mr Recorder Doig: ‘You left the school, went home, and shortly before 2.00pm, you sent a picture of yourself and in the bathroom. You got an image of the child that was sent to you. The 7 conversation again turned sexual. At 2.06pm, you sent a live camera image of your exposed erect penis. You sent a gallery picture of a male exposing his erect penis. You sent a video of a male masturbating his erect penis. All those conversations took place on 7 February.’ The sentence imposed for this offence was 14 months imprisonment, to run concurrently with the sentence of imprisonment for the other offence. In addition, the court imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for a period of five years (i.e. until 21 June 2028). The SHPO contained various prohibitions including the following: ‘Seeking or undertaking any employment including voluntary work, whether for payment or otherwise which is likely at some time to allow unsupervised access to a child under the age of 16 years.’ Mr Aslam was also ordered to register with the police in accordance with the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for a period of 10 years. The panel found allegation 2 proved. Findings as to conviction of a relevant offence Having found the allegations proven, the panel went on to consider whether the facts of those proven allegations amounted to convictions of relevant offences. Mr Aslam admitted that the convictions were for relevant offences. The panel took these admissions into account, but made its own determination. In doing so, the panel had regard to the document Teacher Misconduct: The Prohibition of Teachers, which is referred to as “the Advice”. The panel was satisfied that the conduct of Mr Aslam, in relation to the facts it found proved, involved breaches of the Teachers’ Standards. The panel considered that by reference to Part 2, Mr Aslam was in breach of the following standards: • Teachers uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school, by o having regard for the need to safeguard pupils’ well-being, in accordance with statutory provisions • Teachers must have proper and professional regard for the ethos, policies and practices of the school in which they teach and maintain high standards in their own attendance and punctuality. • Teachers must have an understanding of, and always act within, the statutory frameworks which set out their professional duties and responsibilities. 8 The panel noted that Mr Aslam’s actions were relevant to working with children and working in an education sett