Mansfield teacher banned over sexual messages to 13-year-old

An IT teacher who was convicted of sending sexual messages to a 13-year-old girl has been banned indefinitely.

Tyler Hickling, who taught at Brunts Academy in Mansfield, messaged the pupil on her phone and social media.

An investigation also found he told her he preferred her wearing skirts and would not do anything sexual with her until she was older.

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) said the 29-year-old's actions were "unacceptable professional conduct".

Hickling was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for 12 months, at Lincoln Crown Court on 3 September 2019, having been convicted earlier that year of a grooming offence.

A TRA hearing was told Hickling - who was not present during proceedings - had been employed at the school since 2015, with an investigation starting two years later over alleged inappropriate communications.

Among messages sent between the pair were pictures of the teacher in his boxer shorts on his bed, and others expressing behaviour that was sexually motivated.

"In her interview with the police [the girl] stated that [he] had said in messages that 'he would resume it when I was older' and later in her interview repeated that [he] had told her that 'he wasn't planning on doing anything sexual until I was older'," the report said.

The TRA said Hickling deleted messages from his and the pupil's phone, as well as asking her to get rid of further communications, which it said was evidence of a "dishonest" attempt to "hide his wrongdoing".

"[He] was aware that his actions in communicating with [her] were wrong and would have serious consequences if others were aware of it," the report said.

The hearing also found he had failed to heed a warning from when he was on work experience as part of his university studies prior to teacher training in 2013, when he contacted a pupil on Facebook.

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