Teacher banned after sex assaults in mid-1990s

A former private school teacher has been banned from the profession after he was convicted of sexual offences against a girl pupil, a disciplinary panel has ruled.

Neil Butler was working at Orwell Park School, near Ipswich, when allegations of sexual abuse from about 30 years ago were made in 2021.

A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel, which met in April, said the 59-year-old science teacher worked at Rose Hill prep school in Gloucestershire at the time of the offences in the mid-1990s.

The TRA report stated: "Mr Butler's behaviour ultimately led to a sentence of imprisonment, (albeit that it was suspended), which was indicative of the seriousness of the offences."

The report said Butler was found guilty at Gloucester Crown Court of one count of gross indecency with a girl under 14 years old and three counts of indecent assault on a girl under 14 years old.

He received a two-year jail sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years and to pay £10,000 in compensation, the panel heard.

It was in October 2021 that the victim reported the offences which took place when she was a pupil at Rose Hill, a private boarding school in Alderly in the Cotswolds, which has since closed.

At that time, Butler was working at Orwell Park, in Nacton, but he left there in July 2022 "in light of the criminal allegations against him".

The TRA said: "The panel noted that these actions relate to activity on a school trip and on the school premises."

Butler was "prohibited from teaching indefinitely" and cannot teach in any school, relevant youth accommodation or children's home.

He was also not entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach due to the seriousness of the allegations.

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