TEACHER SENTENCED OVER VOYEURISM
2011.A teacher who recently qualified was convicted of taking photographs of students in states of undress and engaging in sexual contact with a boy he was mentoring.
24-year-old Joshua Plank was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to two voyeurism charges and one count of sexual activity involving a minor.
The identity of the school in Oxfordshire where he worked has not been revealed in order to preserve the privacy of the victims.
Prosecutor Cathy Olliver explained that Plank, of Signet in Burford, started his teaching role at the institution in January 2010.
On February 18 that year, an incident occurred where a Year 11 student was changing in a classroom post-lesson when Plank began photographing him.
Police reports and reports from the school revealed that following this event, Plank was arrested, and a prior incident from December 2010 was brought to light.
In the earlier case, Plank was providing tuition to a Year Seven student, during which he read from Tom Brown’s Schooldays and then performed a roleplay that involved physically abusing the child by bending him over and slapping him.
Despite being cautioned to avoid working alone with pupils after that event, no immediate disciplinary action was taken by the school.
The judge, Anthony King, imposed a three-year community sentence on Plank, mandating participation in a sex-offender treatment scheme, an £800 fine for costs, and a five-year sex offender registration requirement.
He was also given a lifelong ban from working with children.
