A TEACHER caught in a 'paedophile' sting trying to meet what he believed was a school girl for sex has been banned from the profession for life.

David Simpson, 49, from Oak Street, Accrington, was convicted of attempting to meet a girl under the age of 16, intending to commit a relevant offence, between February 22 and 27, by a jury at Burnley Crown Court, last December.

He had denied the allegation.

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Simpson taught at Alder Grange Alder Grange Community College, Rawtenstall, Ribblesdale High School, Clitheroe, and Norden High School and Sports College, Rishton, around the time he started sending obscene internet messages to what he thought was a 15-year-old, last February.

However the texts were being sent to a woman in her 20s acting as a decoy to help 'paedophile hunter' Stinson Hunter. Simpson was later caught in a sting when he turned up in Birmingham to meet the 'schoolgirl' for sex in a hotel.

He received a two-year jail sentence, suspended for two years, with 12 months' supervision and 150 hours unpaid work. He was also ordered to sign the Sexual Offenders Register for 10 years and was given a five-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

And now the professional conduct panel of the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) has kicked him out of the profession and refused him the right to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach as 'there is a strong public interest consideration in the protection of pupils'.

Paul Heathcote, an NCTL official, said: “The panel have found Mr Simpson’s actions to be deliberate and have judged that he wasn’t under duress, indeed they have found his actions to be calculated and motivated.”

Simpson, who did not attend the hearing in Coventry, can appeal to the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days of the panel's judgment.