Former Dewsbury teacher banned from work for online grooming

A junior teacher has been banned from the profession after he was jailed for more than three years for sex offenses against children.

Liam I’Anson-North has been banned from teaching indefinitely following a hearing by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).

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

The conduct panel found that Liam I’Anson-North appeared to have shown no remorse following his conviction.

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

His activities first came to light in mid-2021 when an account using an alias created by I’Anson-North linked via social media to an account controlled by West Yorkshire Police.

The hearing was told how he thought he was talking to a 13-year-old girl online but was actually talking to an undercover police officer.

He was arrested by officers in June 2021 at Ravensthorpe CE Primary School in Dewsbury, where he worked.

He was later charged and after a trial found guilty of attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child and two offenses of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

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

The commission noted that at a previous hearing he had pleaded not guilty, saying that “due to the conviction, I had to agree to the charges.”

He also admitted that “there was no evidence that he acted under strong duress” and that he was repeatedly told that the person he was “communicating with online” was 13 years old.”

Decision-maker Mark Cavey decided that I’Anson-North would never teach at any school, sixth-form college, associated youth hostel or children’s home in England and would not be eligible to apply to have his teaching rights reinstated.

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

Mr Cavey said that due to the “lack of evidence of discernment and remorse, in my opinion there is a risk of such conduct being repeated in the future”.

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

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