Paedophile primary school teacher from Chester is banned from teaching for life

A 64-year-old paedophile teacher from Chester has been banned from teaching for life. Former Chester[1] Zoo keeper Charles Ellis was found guilty back in 2019 of sexually assaulting six children at a Wirral[2] school. He later confessed to sexually abusing four more children at a primary school in Liverpool in 2020.

The time-span between all of his offences means he had been molesting children over a period of 17 years. Over the two separate hearings he was given a total of five years in prison, which started in December 2019. READ: Men dressed in black break into Cheshire home while homeowner was inside[3] | The men broke into the house at around 5.30pm and snatched watches and rings

READ: Heartbroken family pay tribute to Jamie, 27, who died in tragic Chester crash[4] | Jamie Lee, 27, from Winsford, tragically died at scene of a crash in Chester Now, the Government's Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) has held a misconduct hearing into Ellis' offending and has ruled that he is banned from working in the classroom indefinitely. The report published by the TRA states: "The panel was of the view that prohibition was both proportionate and appropriate.

The panel decided that the public interest considerations outweighed the interests of Mr Ellis. "The following were significant factors in forming that opinion: the nature of the offences; the victims were pupils of Mr Ellis, the majority of whom were under 10 years old at the time the offences took place; the offences were committed over a sustained period of time, some 17 years; and it appeared that the victims had been subject to multiple incidents of inappropriate touching. "The panel regarded Mr Ellis' conduct and convictions as particularly serious.

Not only was the offending behaviour incompatible with being a teacher, it represented a breach of trust as it involved pupils for whom Mr Ellis was responsible. "Accordingly, the panel made a recommendation to the Secretary of State that a prohibition order should be imposed with immediate effect." The allegations came to light in 2017 and following a police investigation, Ellis was found guilty by a jury and jailed in 2019 for three years.

After he was jailed, further victims came forward making fresh allegations. This time, Ellis admitted six counts of indecent assault and five counts of sexual assault. He was then given a further two years in prison on top of his three-year sentence.

NEWSLETTER: Sign up for CheshireLive email direct to your inbox here[5]

References

1. ^ Chester (www.cheshire-live.co.uk)
2. ^ Wirral (www.cheshire-live.co.uk)
3. ^ Men dressed in black break into Cheshire home while homeowner was inside (www.cheshire-live.co.uk)
4. ^ Heartbroken family pay tribute to Jamie, 27, who died in tragic Chester crash (www.cheshire-live.co.uk)
5. ^ Sign up for CheshireLive email direct to your inbox here (www.cheshire-live.co.uk)