Teacher who downloaded child porn is struck off

A HISTORY teacher who also worked for the Metropolitan Police has been struck off after he was caught with thousands of child pornography images.

Joseph McCabe, 53, admitted downloading the library of 13,358 pictures at his home in Perth. He was also found guilty of collecting 33 indecent videos of children between March 2008 and April 2010.

McCabe, a father-of-two, was jailed for 14 months at Perth Sheriff Court last year, and was officially banned from the classroom following a General Teaching Council for Scotland conviction hearing in Edinburgh yesterday.

McCabe, who was registered as a secondary school teacher of history and computer science, had worked as an education officer for Perth and Kinross Council and had moved to a new job as an IT consultant with the Met Police when he was arrested in April last year.

The force immediately sacked him when his crimes came to light, and following his trial he was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for ten years. He was not represented at yesterday’s hearing.

The GTCS panel stated: “The committee was satisfied that removal from the register was the only appropriate sanction. The offence involved a serious departure from standards expected of a registered teacher, and any other disposal would undermine public trust and confidence in the profession.”

The GTCS also decided to refer McCabe’s name to Scottish ministers for consideration of barring him from working with children.