Teacher who hoarded indecent images of children struck off

A Fife primary school teacher who hoarded indecent pictures of children has been struck off after watchdogs ruled he was at “high risk” of reoffending.

Gavin Dunlop can no longer work as a teacher after the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) determined that he could not be trusted around children.

The primary teacher was ordered to carry out 210 hours of unpaid work at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court earlier this year after being found guilty of charges of creating and possessing indecent pictures of children between December 27 2015 and August 22 2019.

While he was convicted of the offences in January, Dunlop declined to admit whether he had committed them when invited to do so by the GTCS.

The watchdog convened a panel of experts for a hearing in April this year to determine whether the teacher, who quit his job in November 2019, could be allowed to work around children.

Its conclusion, made public on Friday, is that Dunlop could not be trusted. His behaviour, the panel said, was “fundamentally incompatible” with a role in teaching.

There is no suggestion that the offences involved children at the school where he taught.

“The panel considered that this was gross misconduct with a level of seriousness fundamentally incompatible with being a teacher,” the watchdog said in its public report.

“There was no demonstration of insight or remorse to remediate the conduct and mitigate the risk of it happening again. There was no evidence in support of the risk of reoccurrence being unlikely.

“The panel considered that there was in fact a high risk that the conduct might happen again.

“The teacher had not remedied the conduct and it was not remediable given his failure to admit the allegations.

“For these reasons, the panel concluded that the teacher is currently unfit to teach.”

Through the use of records provided by both Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court and Fife Council, the panel heard that Dunlop appeared on petition to hear the charges against him on August 26 2019. The matter was then referred to the GTCS by the council two days later.

In the months that followed, Dunlop indicated to the GTCS he would no longer be seeking work as a teacher prior to the hearing concluding, blaming a “recent health diagnosis” for his decision to quit rather than the pending criminal case. He could not be reached for further comment.

Reporting by Local Democracy Reporter Jon Brady