West Yorkshire teacher banned for life after pretending to be 16 online and demanding naked photos

A former West Yorkshire teacher has been banned for life after pretending to be a 16-year-old boy online and getting a child to send him sexual images.

Michael Pierce, 34, was jailed for six years at Leeds Crown Court in June 2024 after admitting to a number of sexual offences, including inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

The 34-year-old targeted two youngsters on social media, latching onto the first one in 2020, initially discussing everyday subjects. He told her he was 16, and she told him she was 14 or 15, despite being 12.

Now following a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) misconduct panel hearing, Pierce has been formally banned from teaching indefinitely.

The TRA report said: “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 Pierce were not treated with the utmost seriousness when regulating the conduct of the profession.”

The misconduct panel heard how Pierce made contact under a pseudonym and lied about his age, saying that he was 16 years of age.

At the Crown Court hearing, Judge Richard Mansell KC said Pierce engaged in “classic grooming behaviour to gain her trust” and sent her photographs he claimed were of him but were, in fact, images of young boys aged 16 or 17.

Pierce continued to contact the girl and asked for intimate pictures. She sent a picture of her legs but while wearing trousers, but he asked for one without. When she said no, he became angry and threatened to block her, the TRA report detailed.

He sent an explicit photograph and continued to ask for more intimate photos of the girl, the misconduct panel heard. Pierce then contacted a second girl using the first pseudonym and told her that he was in year 10.

The matters came to light after the second girl contacted the police. Pierce was tracked down through the IP addresses associated with his Snapchat accounts. When first interviewed under caution, he denied the offences.

Considering its verdict, the TRA misconduct panel added: “There was no evidence Mr Pierce’s actions were not deliberate. He acted in a calculated manner motivated for his own sexual gratification. The panel noted that Mr Pierce denied the offences when interviewed under caution but pleaded guilty in the criminal proceedings.

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

As a result, Pierce was 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.

Alongside his six year prison sentence in 2024, Pierce was put on the sex offender register for life and given a life-long sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to have no unsupervised contact with children.