A secondary schoolteacher serving a 10-year sentence for the oral rape of one of his students has been removed from the teachers’ register.
The decision was made on Monday at a Teaching Council fitness-to-teach inquiry, where the Disciplinary Committee Inquiry Panel also ruled that Patrick Joseph Bardon could not apply to be readmitted to the register for 20 years.
Bardon is serving a 10-year sentence in the Midlands Prison for the oral rape of one of his then student, a male, between October 1992 and March 1994.
Bardon was convicted of 11 charges of orally raping the then teenager on dates between October 1992 and March 1994 and was sentenced in October 2023 by Mr Justice David Keane.
The panel found that Bardon’s rape convictions are “fundamentally incompatible” with the teaching profession and its core values and that his conviction affected his fitness to teach.
It also said his offences constituted “an egregious breach of trust”.
The panel noted that Bardon had engaged in grooming behaviour of his male victim over 20 months.
Joanne Williams, barrister for the council, outlined some of the evidence from Bardon’s criminal trial, including that the victim would regularly go to his house after school, where they would watch pornography together.
In its ruling, the panel said there was a risk of lifelong implications for the victim as a result of Bardon’s behaviour.
The offences took place at Bardon’s home between October 1992 and March 1994, starting when he was 23 and his victim was 15.
Bardon is serving his sentence in the Midlands Prison.
In imposing the 20-year prohibition on teaching, the panel said this was necessary to protect the public. It also noted Bardon’s probation report, which said that there was a moderate chance of reoffending.
Mitigating factors that the panel took into account included that Bardon’s short teaching career was blemish-free until the point the offences occurred and that he was in his early 20s at the time.
