A FORMER teacher who had sex with a pupil will never be allowed to teach again, a misconduct panel has decided.

Jay Plucknett, who taught at a school in the Southend area when the offence took place and more recently at a school in the Castle Point district, was permanently banned from teaching after a misconduct hearing last week.

The 40-year-old admitted one count of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust and was sentenced to eight months behind bars, suspended for two years, in July 2022.

In a report published by the Teaching Regulation Agency on Thursday, it was revealed Mr Plucknett had met a female pupil at his home or in his car to “engage in consensual sexual touching” on a weekly basis.

The panel heard how the pair had exchanged phone numbers while the girl was still a pupil at the school and that they continued a consensual sexual relationship for about a year after she left.

Their relationship eventually “developed to include sexual intercourse”, the report added.

Mr Plucknett was arrested after the pupil reported the teacher had sexually assaulted her by hugging, kissing, touching, and “sexualised communication”.

He resigned from his position at a school in Castle Point 12 weeks later, with a later disciplinary hearing ruling he would’ve been dismissed without notice for committing gross misconduct if he hadn’t voluntarily stepped down.

David Oatley, the professional conduct panel’s decision maker, said Mr Plucknett’s actions “fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession”.

“The findings of misconduct are particularly serious as they include a finding of a relevant conviction for sexual activity with a child, which resulted in a suspended prison sentence,” he added.

Mr Oatley banned Mr Plucknett from teaching at any school, sixth form college, youth accommodation, or children’s home in England.

The former teacher, who was not present at the hearing, does not have the right to apply for his ability to teach to be restored.

As well as a suspended prison sentence, he was also ordered to take part in 55 days of rehabilitation activities and 140 hours of unpaid work, as well as being subjected to a barring order, when he appeared at Southend Crown Court in 2022.