A BOARDING school teacher who escaped jail after being caught with child porn images on his computer is set to be struck off the teaching register.
Samuel Henley, a former maths teacher at the £32,000 a year Gordonstoun boarding school was sacked after police searched his parents home in July 2010 and found computers, one of which containing naked images of girls and boys as young as eight.
Henley was due to stand trial at Chester Crown Court on 30 charges of making indecent images of a child between May and July 2009.
A General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) panel will hold his fitness to teach hearing on November 13.
On February 7, 2014, his guilty plea to six charges was accepted and his not guilty pleas to the 24 remaining charges were allowed to lie on his file.
Henley was given a two year conditional discharge and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for five years. He was also made subject of a sex offenders prevention order – meaning he is disqualified from working with children for the foreseeable future.
According to the GTCS he was also asked to pay a £15 victim surcharge.
Police found images of boys and girls as young as eight engaged in sexual activity.
One of the pictures, headlined ‘sweet boys kissing’ and included images of 10 to 12 year old boys engaged in sexual activity.
There were also videos on his computer of teenage boys performing sex acts on one another.
Police seized three Apple Mac computers and a memory stick from Henley.
It is not believed any of the images on his computers were of pupils at Gordonstoun, Elgin – which educates around 600 boys and girls.
The GTCS stated the matters Henley’s panel were to hear were that ‘on 7 February 2014 you, Samuel Henley, were tried upon indictment and convicted of’ six counts of ‘Making Indecent photographs or
pseudo-photographs of a child’.
The statement continues: “In respect of these offences you were sentenced to Conditional Discharge for two years (concurrent on all charges), placed on the Sex Offender’s Register for two years, barred from working with children under vetting/barring scheme, made subject to a Sexual Offences Protection Order for a period of five years under s104 and 106 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £15.
“In light of the above it is alleged that your fitness to teach is impaired and that you are unfit to teach as a result of breaching sections 1.3 and 1.4 of the Code of Professionalism and Conduct.”
A spokewoman from Gordonstoun School said: “The School recruited Mr Henley as a teacher of Mathematics in September 2009 following the normal recruitment procedure which includes an enhanced Disclosure Scotland check against police records.
“Mr Henley’s employment at the School was terminated as soon as we became aware of the gravity of the allegations in August 2010. The police have confirmed that the images concerned in the charges against him preceded his employment at the school.
“Gordonstoun is committed to providing a secure and nurturing environment and we have confidence in the pastoral care and support all our students receive.
