Teacher suspended for looking at porn

A high school teacher has been suspended after he was caught by pupils looking at pornographic images on a laptop computer during a lesson.

Stephen Hindes, who taught at Lowestoft's Benjamin Britten High, has been banned from teaching for six months after the General Teaching Council (GTC) found him guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.

Trevor Osborne, the school's head teacher, said Mr Hindes was immediately suspended after he was found to be accessing adult pornography.

Mr Hindes has been employed by the school for three-and-a-half years, but has not been at work since the incident in March 2006.

A GTC hearing in Birmingham last week heard how pupils reported having seen inappropriate images on his laptop during a science lesson.

Mr Hindes was unrepresented at the hearing and did not appear.

But the disciplinary committee considered mitigating information regarding Mr Hindes' health and personal circumstances at the time of the incident.

Along with the suspension of his registration for six months, the GTC also decided to make Mr Hindes ineligible to apply for registration again until he has provided the teaching council's registrar with a report from a doctor confirming his fitness to return to work.

Mr Osborne said: “A group of students reported a member of staff viewing female pornography on a laptop.

“After it was reported we took that person immediately out of teaching, we impounded the laptop and interviewed the students, and him. By lunchtime of that day he had been suspended and he has never taught at the school since.”

The case was investigated by police and by Suffolk County Council's child protection team.

No charges were brought against Mr Hindes.