Benton Park School: Leeds music teacher banned for life after making indecent images of children
A Leeds music teacher has been banned from the profession for life after being convicted of making indecent photographs of children.
Donal Donnelly, 60, was convicted in November 2023 of three counts of making indecent photographs of children. He was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, put on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and told to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work. He had admitted the offences.
Mr Donnelly was employed as a music teacher at Benton Park School in Leeds from January 2018 until July 3, 2023, when he was dismissed. The misconduct panel heard that he was investigated by North Yorkshire Police who found no evidence to suggest the offences involved children taught by Mr Donnelly.
Now following a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) misconduct panel hearing last month, Mr Donnelly was banned from teaching indefinitely.
The TRA report said: “The panel considered that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if conduct such as that found against Mr Donnelly were not treated with the utmost seriousness when regulating the conduct of the profession.
“The panel was of the view that a strong public interest consideration in declaring proper standards of conduct in the profession was also present as the conduct found against Mr Donnelly was outside that which could reasonably be tolerated.
The misconduct panel noted that they had “very limited evidence” of Mr Donnelly’s abilities as an educator and the panel considered that the adverse public interest considerations above outweighed any interest in retaining Mr Donnelly in the profession.
The panel did take into account his statement in response to the TRA’s investigation that “I hugely regret what I have done. I committed the offences at a very difficult time in my life and I am full of remorse at what I did. I am ensuring that I do all the rehabilitation activities necessary and serve my conviction in the most positive way I can.”
However, the panel “remained concerned” about the potential risk of repetition of the behaviours demonstrated by the conviction. They also noted that the behaviour involved in committing the offence “could have had an impact on the safety and security of pupils and potentially other members of the public.”
Considering its verdict, the TRA misconduct panel added: “I have considered whether not allowing a review period reflects the seriousness of the findings and is a proportionate period to achieve the aim of maintaining public confidence in the profession.
“In this case, factors mean that allowing a review period is not sufficient to achieve the aim of maintaining public confidence in the profession. These elements are the serious nature of the offences of which Mr Donnelly was convicted and received a suspended custodial sentence, the lack of evidence of full insight and remorse, and the risk of repetition.
“I consider therefore that allowing for no review period is necessary to maintain public confidence and is proportionate and in the public interest.”
As a result, Mr Donnelly has been banned from teaching indefinitely and the panel ruled that due to the seriousness of the allegations, he would “not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.”
The ruling means he cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.