An assistant principal of a Croydon school who took innocent photographs of children and turned them into sexual images has been banned for life.

Stephen Hepworth, 46, was teaching at Archbishop Lanfranc Academy when pupils caught him manipulating a photograph of two girls taken at Shirley High School, where he worked from 2009 to 2014.

The pupils filmed Mr Hepworth on their mobile phones while he was "creating a magnified 'upskirt' image of the upper inner thigh and genital area of one of his female former pupils while using a school computer”.

A report published by the Teaching Regulation Authority states that the teacher admitted his actions, but denied that they were sexually motivated.

The panel refused to accept Mr Hepworth's claim he was simply acting in a "thoughtless" way while playing with a new piece of software on the school computer, finding him guilty of professional misconduct and banning him for life.

The report says: "Mr Hepworth has been found guilty of using a school computer during working hours for actions motivated by the pursuance of sexual gratification.

“The panel watched two videos created on pupils' mobile phones, Mr Hepworth accessing an image of two female former pupils sitting on a table on a school computer.

"One of the girls was wearing a skirt that was set well above the knee line. He then proceeds to zoom in on the part of the image that shows the pupil's upper thigh and genital area.

“He did not act accordingly for a few seconds but rather for at least two minutes during which time he stared at the image and repeatedly magnified or cropped the image.

"He explains the behaviour as 'playing around' or 'thoughtlessness' when in fact it is clear to the panel that there cannot have been no motive other than a sexual motive for his actions.”

"If that was the situation he would have had no reason to spend the time he did zooming in on and cropping an image of the aforementioned part of the girl's body.

"We believe it is no coincidence that he was viewing the image that he was; he was simply doing it for sexual gratification."

Mr Hepworth was subjected to a prohibition order on behalf of the Education Secretary, banning him from ever teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.