A young teacher has been banned from the profession after being jailed for more than three years for child sex offences.

Liam I’Anson-North has been barred from teaching indefinitely after a hearing by the Teaching Regulatory Agency (TRA).

The 30-year-old former teacher from Dewsbury was convicted at Leeds Crown Court in June 2023 of three online child sex offences.

An ethics committee concluded that Liam I’Anson-North did not appear to have shown remorse after his conviction.

The TRA panel heard how the former Middleton teacher in Rochdale was caught by a police team dedicated to protecting vulnerable children online.

Its activity first came to light in mid-2021 when an account using a pseudonym created by I’Anson-North made contact via social media with an account controlled by West Yorkshire Police.

The hearing heard he thought he was speaking to a 13-year-old girl online, but was in fact speaking with a member of plainclothes police staff.

He was arrested by police in June 2021 at Ravensthorpe CE Junior School in Dewsbury where he worked.

He was subsequently charged and, after a trial, was convicted of attempting to have sexual intercourse with a child and two misdemeanor counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

He was sentenced to three years and four months in prison.

The panel noted that he had maintained his innocence at a previous panel hearing, stating “because of a guilty verdict, I had to accept the allegations.”

He also admitted that there was “no evidence to suggest he was acting under extreme duress” and that he had been told repeatedly that the person he was “communicating with online was 13”.

Decision-maker Marc Cavey decided that I’Anson-North would never teach in any relevant school, sixth form college, youth accommodation or children’s home in England, and would not have the right to apply for his eligibility to be reinstated to teach.

He said in his conclusion that there was “an extremely strong public interest consideration in relation to the safeguarding and welfare of pupils and the protection of other members of the public”.

Mr Cavey said that with a “lack of evidence of insight and remorse, in my view there is a risk of a repeat of this behavior in the future”.

I’Anson-North has 28 days to appeal the decision to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court.

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