Milton Keynes teacher let sex offender onto school grounds

A teacher who allowed her sex offender partner onto her school premises has been allowed to continue working.

A panel said Alice Cresswell had shown a “very serious lapse in judgment” in allowing the man to drive her to work at St Monica’s Catholic Primary School in Milton Keynes.

He posed a “significant risk” to students who had been convicted of a sex offence a year before the March 2023 incident, the Education Regulatory Agency said.

However, she concluded that the ban on Ms Cresswell, a “very good teacher”, was not in the public interest.

The watchdog said publishing its findings would be enough to send an “appropriate message” about his conduct.

A spokesperson for St Monica’s said Ms Cresswell had left the school and was “fully committed to the protection and welfare of our students”.

She worked there from September 2022 to July 2023, but got a job in retail after leaving, a report describes.

Ms Cresswell had begun a relationship with the man, named only as Person A, in 2018.

Three years later, he was placed on the sex offenders register for five years after being convicted of making indecent images of children in 2022.

Ms Cresswell told the panel his offending had happened “well before” they met and he had looked at the indecent images “out of curiosity”.

She said he “inadvertently clicked on a pop-up ad” at the time.

The former teacher said she did not feel it necessary to reveal her relationship with Person A at school.

However, she admitted that there was “no justification for allowing” Person A to enter the school premises.

The conduct committee called her actions “naive” but said she had an “otherwise impeccable record”.

“I have concluded that a prohibition order is not proportionate or in the public interest,” said decision-maker Marc Cavey.