Twisted teacher wanted to 'whip pupil with his tie' while coaching her in lockdown

David Amos sent a sick masturbation video to the teenage girl alongside more than 700 messages and explicit photographs of himself while teaching at a school in County Durham

A teacher who sent vile sext messages to a teenage pupil telling her he wanted to "whip her with his tie" has been banned from the classroom for life.

Sick David Amos was jailed for the Snapchat and Skype messages in 2022 after it was heard how he sent her pictures of his penis and coerced her into sending him pictures of her bottom. The then-30-year-old had been a teacher at a school in County Durham during the onset of Covid in 2020, and was supposed to be coaching her during the pandemic.

Instead he sent her more than 700 messages, many of which were grossly sexualised. In another message, he tried to persuade her to go to a wooded area so he could photograph her, while in another he sent her a video of himself masturbating.

Amos, from Durham, pleaded guilty to causing a child to watch sexual activity in May 2020 and a charge of causing a child to engage in sexual activity between May and September 2020. He was jailed for 30 months in October 2022 after a judge at Teesside crown court told him he had committed a "gross breach of trust".

Now the Teaching Regulation Agency has ordered a lifetime ban on him teaching again. Amos, now 32, had worked at the school since 2017, but only officially left the day he was sentenced.

Alan Wells, who chaired the TRA hearing, said: "In a statement of agreed facts, Mr Amos has admitted that the victim of the offences was a pupil at the College and was under 16 years old. He admitted having approached the pupil by email and then having moved on to contact her by Snapchat.

"He admitted having sent three photographs of himself naked to the pupil and a video of himself masturbating and ejaculating. He also admitted having sent sexually explicit messages to the pupil.

"There was a strong public interest consideration in respect of the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils, given the seriousness of the offences committed by Mr Amos against a pupil of the College in which he taught." Mr Wells added in the published outcome: "Mr Amos has not provided any representations that indicate what, if any, insight he may have developed, nor expressing any remorse for his actions. The panel noted that he pleaded guilty to the offences.

"Similarly, the panel considered 12 that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if conduct such as that found against Mr Amos were not treated with the utmost seriousness when regulating the conduct of the profession." Banning him for life,

Marc Cavey, for the Education Secretary, stated: "The panel had no evidence of any mitigating circumstances nor anything that could allow it to assess the risk of repetition. In my judgement, the lack of evidence of insight and/or remorse means that there is some risk of the repetition of this behaviour and this puts at risk the future wellbeing of pupils."