A PAEDOPHILE headteacher jailed for having abuse images has been banned from classrooms for life.

Daniel Chapman was the former head of Hilltop Infants School in Wickford, before being jailed for 30 months for a string of child sex offences.

The 38-year-old, who has since changed his name to Alexander Martin, was found to have dozens of indecent images of children when police raided his home in Meadgate Avenue, Chelmsford, including several in category A, the most serious kind.

Essex Police also said some of the messages Chapman sent were the "most horrific" officers had ever seen.

He was jailed in November 2019, but now the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) in a damning 5,500 word judgment has found Chapman was guilty of such serious conduct that he could never be allowed back into the classrooms.

The disciplinary panel said: "Each of these serious offences were very disturbing in nature. The majority of the offences directly involved children.

"Mr Martin's behaviour in committing these offences plainly engaged public and child protection issues. It had the potential to impact on the safety or security of members of the public. In short, Mr Martin is a convicted paedophile.”

They added: "His actions were fundamentally incompatible with his being an educator. This was conduct of the most serious nature. The nature and gravity of these offences was a matter of significant concern.

"There were, accordingly, particularly strong public interest considerations in this case in terms of protecting the public, public confidence in the teaching profession and the declaring of proper standards of conduct in this case.”

Following Chapman admitting the offences, The Hearts Academy Trust which runs Hilltop School barred any other members of staff from providing statements about him.

The way is sometimes left open for teachers to seek to have their bans lifted after a set period.

But, in imposing the ban on behalf of the Education Secretary, decision maker John Knowles, said: “Mr Alexander Martin is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

"Furthermore, in view of the seriousness of the allegation’s found proved against him, I have decided that Mr Martin shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach."