CUMBRIA TEACHER BANNED AFTER SEXUAL ABUSE CONVICTION
Update 30/12/25: Craster-Chambers pleaded guilty to four separate breaches of his SHPO between March 5 2021 and November 29 this year.He is due to be sentenced on February 2 2026 and has been granted unconditional bail.
———————————————————————— A former teacher working at John Ruskin School in Coniston, Cumbria, has been banned from the teaching profession for life after being convicted of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl in incidents that occurred over 20 years ago.
Mark Craster-Chambers, 56, was found guilty in March last year of two counts of engaging in sexual activity while employed at the school between 2001 and 2005.
Despite maintaining his innocence during a misconduct hearing, a panel concluded that a lifelong ban was necessary to uphold public confidence in the profession.
The Teaching Regulation Agency noted he accepted his conviction but claimed he was not guilty, though the panel deemed the conviction sufficient proof of the misconduct.
Craster-Chambers, who rose to deputy head in his 26-year teaching career before leaving the profession in 2016, was later reported to police by a former pupil who said she had engaged in sexual activity with him.
In court, the woman stated that as her teacher, he "should have known better" and expressed lifelong anxiety caused by his actions.
Sentencing in 2021, Recorder Richard Archer highlighted that Craster-Chambers, aware of the legal boundaries and his professional standing, broke the law and betrayed her trust.
