A former supply teacher who took upskirting images of girls in schools and used AI to sexualise pictures of pupils has been jailed for six years. Abusali Rahman, 37, admitted the 'horrendous' abuse of trust, covertly filming children and planning to sell the images online.
Offences across Greater Manchester schools
Greater Manchester Police said the girls were aged between 13 and 16 and attended seven high schools across Bury, Bolton and Salford. Rahman had taught at 25 schools across the North West. He placed his iPhone in the top pocket of his clothing to capture the images.
Police discovered he had taken upskirting images of 12 girls, whose parents were alerted. Rahman also stole images of girls he had taught from social media, used AI to create sexualised images, and posted them online.
Investigation and sentencing
He came to police attention when pictures of students at Bolton schools were seen on X accounts linked to him. At Bolton Crown Court on October 15, Rahman was sentenced. Prosecuting, Tom Farr said Rahman had worked in schools since October 2022 but only qualified in July the following year.
Following his first arrest in June last year, Rahman said: "As soon as I knew it had been reported to the police, I stopped. I'm worried I'm going to lose my job." His laptop contained upskirting images taken 'covertly in schools' in 'corridors, classrooms and around the school'. He had also recorded pupils' names and addresses.
Judge's remarks and guilty plea
Sentencing, Judge Kenderick Horne told Rahman: "You were a trusted supply teacher. Your position of trust gave you access to schools and classrooms. You abused that trust." Rahman, of no fixed address but from Salford, pleaded guilty to 21 offences, including 12 counts of taking an indecent image of a child and one count of voyeurism.
After the hearing, Alexandra Mann, Senior Crown Prosecutor, said: "Abusali Rahman abused his position as a teacher to capture images of children without their knowledge in a school environment where they were entitled to feel safe." Detective Chief Superintendent Rebecca McKendrick, head of GMP's Public Protection Division, said: "Protecting children remains our highest priority."
