Harrogate headteacher banned after making indecent images of children

A former headteacher at a Harrogate Primary School has been banned from teaching after being found guilty of making thousands of indecent images of children.

Matthew Shillito,44 was appointed as the Headteacher at Western Primary School in 2019. However, less than a year later he was arrested on suspicion of viewing indecent images of children.

Following a police investigation, he was found guilty of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children on two occasions. It was found that Mr. Shillito was involved in the making of 20 Category B and 3829 Category C indecent images of children.

In 2022, he was sentenced to an 18-month Community Order and 200 hours unpaid work at York Magistrate’s Court, despite maintaining his innocence throughout. It was also ordered that a Sexual Harm Prevention Order was to be imposed for five years, including restrictions on his internet usage.

Teacher Regulation Agency Panel

Now, a teacher misconduct panel has permanently barred him from teaching and has said he would not be able to appeal against the ruling.

The hearing, carried out by the Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA) outlined the extent of his offences, including making more than 3,800 indecent images of children between 2007 and 2015, raising concerns for him to continue in the teaching profession.

The panel said:

“In the light of the panel’s findings against Mr. Shillito, which involved him making copies of thousands of indecent images of children, there was a strong public interest consideration in respect of the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils.

“Similarly, the panel considered that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if conduct such as that found against Mr. Shillito were not treated with the utmost seriousness when regulating the conduct of the profession.”

It ruled that the panel found that Mr. Shillito is in breach of the following standard: ‘Teachers must have an understanding of, and always act within, the statutory frameworks which set out their professional duties and responsibilities.’

The panel highlighted how Mr. Shillito fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession and the findings of misconduct are ‘particularly serious’ as they include a finding of a conviction for the offence of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.

Panel outcome

The panel ruled that Mr. Matthew Shillito is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

Furthermore, given the seriousness of the allegation found proved against him, Mr. Shillito will not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.

The panel noted that the individual’s actions were relevant to ‘teaching’, ‘working with children’ and ‘working in an education setting’ as the conviction related to his involvement with thousands of sexualised images of children.

Concerns were also raised about the public confidence in the teaching profession if a Prohibition order had not been put in place.

Further reading

Historic abuse claims – Oakwood Solicitors

WHAT TO DO NEXT

Get in touch today for a no-obligation consultation. Choose one of the methods on the right-hand side of this page, or call us on 0113 200 9720 to find out how we can help you.