A teacher was banned for life after being sentenced to 17 months in prison for “censoring” two female students.
Luke Berry, 36, worked at Joyce Frankland Academy in Essex, when he committed two sex crimes against girls under the age of 18.
He touched a female student five times between September and October 2020, and then sent obscene messages to another child between June and October of the following year.
He worked in Mixed 11-18 Middle School since September 2017 until his resignation in May 2022.
After two arrests in 2021 and 2022, in February 2024, he pleaded guilty in Colchester District Court for sexual intercourse and sexual activities with children with girls aged 13 to 17.
He was sentenced to a total of 17 months in prison, a lifelong registry of children’s sex offenders, and a ten-year sexual injury order.
On January 7, 2022, the police handed the matter over to the teaching regulatory agency.
A professional behavior group hearing was held on March 27 this year.
The panel noted that Berry’s behavior was “highly related to teaching, working with children, and working in an educational setting” and that the crime was targeted at both students.
The report said his actions had an impact on the safety and security of students, and Berry’s immediate imprisonment “indicates the seriousness of the crime.”
Last year, the principal of Joyce Frankland Academy of Newport sent an email to his parents saying he was “deeply disappointed and disgusted” by Berry’s behavior.
The judge said in the court decision: “The attempt to normalize your behavior or dialogue shows that it is in the calculation. This is the behavior of modification.
“I am very worried that you have not yet appreciated the significant impact your behavior has on these young women.”
The judge said Berry “cannot recognize” that he was sexually attracted to children and that the pre-verdict report assessed him as a high risk of harm to children.
Berry was banned from lifelong teaching and could not apply for this.
