A TEACHER who told a teenage pupil that he wanted to see her topless has been struck off.

Geoffrey Nuttall resigned his post at Canon Slade School in February, 2015 amid a police investigation into inappropriate conduct with a child.

He has now been banned from teaching indefinitely, after a teaching misconduct panel heard that he contacted the girl over text, Whatsapp and Facebook.

Mr Nuttall admitted to the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) panel last month that his behaviour “demonstrated a lack of judgement” but denied that his behaviour was sexually motivated.

His contact with the girl was discovered by her parents around June 2014. According to her father, she once told Mr Nuttall that no one would be interested in seeing her sunbathing topless, to which Mr Nuttall replied ‘I would’. The teacher did not deny that allegation, but said that his intention was to re-assure her about her body image.

Her mother said was that Mr Nuttall was ‘crafty’ and psychologically ‘chipped away’ at the girl’s self-esteem.

The maths teacher accepted that in response to the girl expressing concern that she would look ‘hideous’ in a bikini, he said something like, ‘well go topless then and no one will notice’.

The panel was also shown a message sent from Mr Nuttall in June, 2014 which said ‘rubbish although I’d prefer you in just bikini bottoms’.

The teacher, who was a head of year and had worked at Canon Slade since 2002, accepted that his relationship with the pupil was inappropriate and some of his actions were ‘plainly wrong’.

However, the panel said there not was sufficient evidence to say that Mr Nuttall’s behaviour was sexually motivated. He was described as an ‘excellent teacher and role model’ in some aspects.

Alan Meyrick, issuing a decision on behalf of the education secretary, said that he had ‘demonstrated a complete lack of judgement’ but that his actions were ‘motivated by a misplaced desire to help a pupil’. Mr Nuttall may apply for the prohibition order to be lifted after two years.

A school spokesman said: “The school is deeply concerned by the nature of the actions committed by a former teacher.

“The member of staff was suspended from duty on June 4, 2014 when the school became aware of the situation.

“Mr Nuttall has not been in the school since that date and he is no longer an employee of the school.

“We have been co-operating with the NCTL hearing into his professional conduct, the outcome of which is available on the NCTL website.

“For legal reasons the school has not been in a position to comment on this case until now, and we cannot go into further detail.”

In April 2012, Canon Slade science teacher Andrew Ward was jailed for downloading more than 9,000 child porn images.

Another Canon Slade teacher, Andrew Welsh, was given a 14-month suspended jail sentence in 2014 after he was found hiding in a drawer under a pupil’s bed.