A South London secondary school teacher has been struck off for sending Instagram messages to pupils and threatening to kill himself if he did not receive a reply.
Mr Paul Casey was also found to have phoned a pupil repeatedly if he did not reply to messages, signed texts with “LY forever”, and threatened to phone the pupil’s mother if he did not respond.
The 28-year-old, who taught religious studies at Holy Cross Catholic School in New Malden, was found guilty of “unacceptable professional conduct” at a virtual hearing in October, the results of which have just been published.
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Mr Casey was accused of sending a female pupil several messages after 11pm and/or overnight, in which he expressed personal opinions and made unprofessional comments regarding one or more of his colleagues.
The teacher then attempted to block the pupil – named in documents as Pupil A – after his communications with her were questioned, and later deleted the messages.
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The panel found all of these allegations to be true, along with further allegations of inappropriate messaging between Mr Casey and a male pupil – named in documents as Pupil B.
Mr Casey met Pupil B while working in a Lismore Comprehensive School in Northern Ireland.
It was found that Mr Casey lent Pupil B money and made purchases for him, threatening the boy if the money was not paid back
Mr Casey was also found to have phoned the pupil repeatedly if he did not reply, signed texts with “LY forever” and threatened to harm and/or kill himself if Pupil B did not reply.
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The teacher was served a police caution for his interactions with pupils and the panel decided it would be in the public interest to serve Mr Casey with probation, preventing him from ever teaching again.
In a concluding statement, the panel said: “The panel found that Mr Casey demonstrated a lack of insight into his behaviours and was concerned that there was a potential ongoing risk to pupils if he were to return to the profession.”
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