A former teacher at a private school in Ewell has been banned from teaching after being convicted of a series of child sex offences involving a 13-year-old boy.
Ian Cornish, who taught at Ewell Castle School, was jailed after he engaged in sexualised communications with the child over several months after meeting him through a dating website.
The communications eventually led to in-person meetings and sexual activity. The victim was not a pupil of his.
The 70-year-old had been convicted at Harrow Crown Court of three sex offences, including meeting a boy under 16 following grooming, arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, and engaging in sexual communication with a child.
The offences took place between May and November 2018.
Following a police investigation, Cornish pleaded guilty and was sentenced on January 10, 2023, to four years in prison.
He was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years and placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
In August, a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) misconduct panel met to assess whether Cornish should be banned from teaching.
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In its findings, the panel said Cornish's conduct was "clearly relevant to teaching, working with children and working in an education setting" despite the victim not being a pupil and the offences not taking place in a school setting.
The panel added: "Mr Cornish's behaviour in committing these offences would undoubtedly affect public confidence in the teaching profession."
They added: "Any teacher who becomes aware of a child on an adult dating site should take safeguarding action and not engage with the child to develop a sexual relationship. This is antithetical to the duties of a teacher."
While the panel acknowledged Cornish had previously enjoyed a long and unblemished teaching career, it found the offences were deliberate, sustained over several months and posed a high risk of serious harm to a vulnerable child.
Cornish was banned from teaching in England for life.
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