GARETH MELLOR, ASSISTANT HEADTEACHER IN WAKEFIELD, CONVICTED OF CHILD INDECENT IMAGE OFFENSES

Gareth Mellor, a 45-year-old assistant headteacher at Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield, has been convicted of possessing more than 11,500 indecent images and videos of children. Mellor pleaded guilty to two counts of making indecent images and one count of possessing indecent photographs. In December 2023, he was sentenced to two years in prison, but the sentence was suspended for two years.

Mellor, who also served as the designated safeguarding lead and provided pastoral care for 320 students at the school, was arrested in May 2021 at his home in Staffordshire. The National Crime Agency (NCA) revealed that Mellor used an encrypted cloud service to purchase the indecent images, which he did not take himself. The images mainly featured teenage girls, with 520 images or videos classified as Category A, 619 as Category B, and 10,450 as Category C.

Following his arrest and subsequent court proceedings, Mellor faced a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) hearing last month. The TRA panel concluded that due to the serious nature and large volume of his offending, a prohibition order was appropriate. As a result, Mellor has been permanently banned from teaching and will never be eligible to teach again.

The school has been contacted for a comment regarding Mellor's conviction.