By Liam Buckler

Copyright mirror

A deputy headteacher has been banned from teaching for life following a misconduct hearing, after sending “sexual fantasy” messages to a child. English teacher and safeguarding lead Laura Hamblin, 40, was arrested by police in March 2024 on suspicion of sexual communication with a child. Between March 21 and March 29, 2024, Ms Hamblin sent WhatsApp messages and voice notes of a “sexual nature” to a “particularly vulnerable” child. She was handed a suspended sentence, along with a sexual harm prevention order, and added to the sex offenders’ register for 10 years. A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel met last week and has now banned her from teaching indefinitely. The panel heard the 40-year-old had resigned from her role in September last year. The TRA panel concluded there was “1,500 pages of chat” between Ms Hamblin and the child, which the judge described in court as “damaging” to the pupil. Messages then began to get “flirtatious”, with “full-on sexual fantasy exchanges”. The Teaching Regulation Agency panel found that she had “fundamentally breached” the standard of conduct expected of a teacher, and “exploited her position of trust”. Ms Hamblin also instructed the child to erase the messages between them as a means of covering up, according to the judge. In the sentencing remarks, the judge added: “There was every reason for you to be admired and looked up to by him by giving him extra reward points and developing a much more personal relationship with him than was ever appropriate, as you must have known. “The personal messages started to become flirtatious. So for a period really of about three weeks you were communicating… in an inappropriate way, and for the last week of that… those messages became full on sexual fantasy exchanges. “That activity and the fallout of it being revealed and the embarrassment to [the pupil] about it has put him back in school, […] interrupting his education, losing the person who had been his favourite teacher, and so the effects reverberate up. They are serious for that boy and his family.” The teaching panel also concluded that a review period would not be appropriate in the circumstances. A spokesperson for the teacher’s former school said the safety of students is the school’s “top priority.” The school exclusively told The Mirror: “The safety of our young people and colleagues is our top priority. Once we became aware of the allegation, the individual was suspended with immediate effect. We worked closely with the police and provided all assistance. The safety and security of our young people and colleagues remains our key focus.”