A FORMER teacher and convicted paedophile wanted the job to “gain access to children”.

Simon Beckerson, 46, has been banned from teaching for life after a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) hearing on November 20.

A report from the hearing published on December 8 said Beckerson had admitted to entering the profession “in order to have access to children” and with “the knowledge of his sexual interest in children”.

He “sought to exploit his position of trust” and he demonstrated “deliberate and calculated actions”.

The hearing focused around Beckerson’s conviction for offences of possessing indecent images of children and extreme pornographic images of an act of intercourse/oral sex with a dead/alive animal.

He was convicted at West Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court on August 26, 2021 and received a prison sentence, according to the report.

Beckerson was employed as a classroom teacher at a school in Huddersfield from 2007, but had accessed indecent images since 2004 and continued until his dismissal almost two decades later.

Alerts were first raised in October 2020 when a member of the public found a bag containing a School ID badge with Beckerson’s name on it alongside indecent images of children.

Beckerson was arrested that same day and his home was searched by police, with his devices seized.

The school suspended the former teacher that same month pending an investigation and a disciplinary hearing was later held in February 2021.

The report said Beckerson was convicted of three counts of possessing an indecent photograph or pseudo photograph of a child, three counts of making an indecent photograph or pseudo photograph of a child, possessing prohibited images of children, and the animal sex image offence.

Beckerson, who lived in the Holmfirth area of Kirklees, admitted to the offences and evidence was provided to the panel in the form of the certificate of conviction, according to the report.

A significant number of images were found – 875 Category A images (the worst category), 602 Category B, and 2,370 Category C – and Beckerson also electronically modified nine images.

Police recovered 277 prohibited images as part of the investigation, and Beckerson also had one image of bestiality.

Beckerson would download indecent images and subsequently view them in hard copy, according to the report.

The panel determined the public interest considerations in recommending a prohibition order to the Secretary of State outweighed the interests of Beckerson, who did not attend the hearing and offered no mitigation.

The report said: “His gross abuse of trust, lengthy period of offending, volume of images that were found, and the young age of the victims, were significant factors in forming that opinion.”

It added: “The panel felt there would be a risk of repetition should Mr Beckerson be allowed to return to teaching, and this would unacceptably compromise the safety of children.”

The Secretary of State agreed with the recommendation and banned Beckerson from teaching indefinitely and he will not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.

The ban includes teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation, or children’s home in England.