A Lancashire headteacher who was caught with animal and child pornography on his phone has been banned from the profession indefinitely.
Ian McDonald was the headteacher at Bishop Martin Church of England Primary School in Skelmersdale.
On June 20, 2024, McDonald, 48, was convicted at Preston Magistrates Court of three counts of making indecent photographs of a child and one count of possessing extreme pornographic images portraying the act of intercourse with a dead or alive animal.
He was sentenced on July 24 to a community order for three years, a requirement to participate in an accredited programme, a rehabilitation activity requirement and was subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.
The panel, made up of Sue Davis, Erin Sudds and Shabana Robertson, found that McDonald breached three standards, regarding teacher upholding public trust in the profession, being proper and professional, and working within the statutory framework of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE).
In their report, the panel wrote: “Although Mr McDonald’s actions took place outside the education setting, the panel found that Mr McDonald’s actions were relevant to teaching, working with children and/or working in an education setting, as it had found that Mr McDonald had been convicted of sexual offences involving images of children.
“The panel noted that the behaviour involved in committing the offences could have had an impact on the safety and/or security of pupils and/or members of the public.
“The offences involved serious misconduct related to children for which Mr McDonald had been convicted.”
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They found that the safeguarding and well-being of pupils, the protection of other members of the public, the maintenance of public confidence in the profession and declaring and upholding proper standards of conduct were all breached by McDonald.
It added that public confidence in the profession could be weakened if McDonald was not treated with the utmost seriousness when regulating the profession's conduct.
In mitigation, the panel said there was no evidence he was acting under extreme duress and that he had actively clicked on the links to images and had saved some of them.
The Secretary of State imposed a prohibition order on McDonald and stated that he would not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.
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