Several Merseyside teachers have been banned from the classroom by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) during the past 12 months. The agency, which regulates the teaching profession in England, has held hearings for a number of teachers in the region.
One admitted sending "excessive" amounts of emails to students after hours and asking them to delete them to cover her tracks, while another former teacher sent messages to a child saying "I was horny," and "you gay yet?"
One primary school headteacher was found with sick photos of children and animal pornography on his phone. His partner stumbled across his secret collection of indecent images of children after he drunkenly fell asleep on the sofa with one hand on his penis and the other holding his mobile phone.
Jennifer Farron
The former science teacher at St John Bosco Arts College was barred indefinitely after sending "excessive" amounts of emails to students after hours and asking them to delete them to cover her tracks. Following an investigation, Ms Farron, 34, was found to have exchanged almost 160 emails with a student known as pupil J. Further emails were sent between the former teacher and another learner known as pupil AM.
Ms Farron was employed at the Storrington Avenue school as a science teacher from September 2017. In June 2024, concerns were brought to the attention of the school regarding Ms Farron's communication with pupil J. Later that month, she was suspended before being sacked in February last year. She was referred to the TRA in March 2025.
Ahead of a private hearing, Ms Farron accepted that she sent to and/or received an "excessive" amount of emails from Pupil AM outside of school hours. It was also accepted by the former teacher that a number of the emails had been deleted. The TRA was told how the communication discussed relationships with other people, the pupil's emotional state and Ms Farron's own personal life.
Daniel Johnson
The former Heygarth Primary School teacher was banned from teaching for life after he was convicted of having indecent images of children. Mr Johnson was convicted of two counts of making an indecent image or pseudo-photograph of children. He had previously been a teacher at Heygarth Primary School in Eastham from 2018 to 2024, with the school then referring the case to the TRA.
The conviction related to possession of two category B images and one category A image, the latter being the most serious offence in respect of possession of images of children. Liverpool Crown Court heard he was discovered with one hand on his penis and the other holding his mobile phone, having fallen asleep upon returning home drunk. When his partner became suspicious and checked the device, she stumbled across his secret collection of indecent images of children.
The former teacher was "prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England".
Ceyhan Unluer
The supply teacher, deemed "unsuitable to work with children", said she panicked and went "into survival mode" when she ignored an instruction to stay away from the classroom. Ms Unluer was under a local authority investigation when she was caught continuing to teach in five schools across the region despite being told not to.
The 45-year-old, who had been contracted to work as a supply teacher in St Helens via an agency, failed to notify a second company she was facing an education probe into her conduct. She was also contracted to work as a supply teacher at St Margaret Church of England, Warrington; Holy Cross Primary School, St Helens; Redbridge High School in Fazakerley; Penketh Primary School and Woolston Brook, Warrington through Connex Education agency from October of the same year.
A report into the hearing held in private detailed how an individual known only as Witness B said there had been a referral regarding "concerns" about Ms Unluer in November 2023. In a subsequent meeting, the supply teacher was advised by Tradewind Recruitment that she was not to work with children while the investigation process was underway. She has now been barred from the profession and will not be allowed to appeal for another four years.
Lianne Barclay
The former teacher who sent messages to a child saying "I was horny," and "you gay yet?" has been banned from the profession. Ms Barclay was a teacher at Bridgewater High School in Warrington when concerns were raised about her conduct in relation to a child.
A Teacher Regulation Agency Panel heard that Miss Barclay, who had worked at the school as a food technology teacher since 2017 and resigned while under investigation in 2019, had been found to be sending messages and voice notes - as well as making calls - to a child who was not a pupil at the school where she worked.
Some of the messages - sent between around March and July 2019 - were found to be of a sexual nature, discussing details of Miss Barclay's and the child's sexuality, with the TRA panel finding her conduct to be sexually motivated and constituting a failure to maintain appropriate boundaries with a child under the age of 16.
The panel report includes details of some of the messages and voice notes sent from Miss Barclay to Child A. One exchange saw Child A ask Miss Barclay "How long ago did you come out?", to which the then teacher answered, before adding: "I was horny." Miss Barclay resigned from her position at the school on August 31 2020, but the school investigation continued. On April 26 2021, the police investigation concluded with no further action.
In its conclusions, the panel was satisfied that Miss Barclay was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and found that her actions constituted conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.
Ian McDonald
The primary school headteacher who was found with sick photos of children and animal pornography on his phone was banned from teaching. Mr McDonald, 46, left his role as headteacher of Bishop Martin Primary School in Skelmersdale, West Lancashire in July 2023.
In a published outcome from a professional conduct panel meeting on February 18, it said how McDonald had been employed at the school from September 2022 when in or around April 2023 he was arrested by Lancashire Police's online abuse team. He was suspended by the school on April 25 that year before he resigned on July 25.
On June 20, 2024, McDonald appeared in Preston Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to three charges of making an indecent photograph of a child and one of possessing an extreme pornographic image (which involves humans having sexual relations with animals), taking place between January 2022 and April 2023.
On July 24 that year, he was sentenced to a three-year community order with 30 days rehabilitation to participate in a suitable accredited programme. McDonald, of Alexandria Drive, St Annes, was also handed a sexual harm prevention order for five years. A former colleague of McDonald's, who wished to remain anonymous, told the ECHO that he left the school in 2023 and did not return.
