A primary school teacher has been banned from the profession after he sent a child a sexual image of him posing with his hands in his pants. 

Owen Jones, 31, was working at Hazelbury Primary School in Edmonton when he was arrested in February 2021. 

In December 2021 he was jailed for eight months by a judge at Wood Green Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual communication with a child. 

Jones was employed as a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) at the school from September 2018. 

Between December 1, 2020 and January 24, 2021, Jones had engaged in sexualised communication with a primary-school-aged pupil on social media. 

This included sending them an inappropriate photo of himself in a sexually suggestive pose with his hands in his underwear close to his genitals. 

A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) misconduct hearing was held in February 2024. 

They were told that Jones had been persistent in his communications and expressed an intention that the child view his sexual photo. 

Jones had suggested moving communication to a social media platform which automatically deletes messages. 

His actions were reported to police in February 2021, and Jones was suspended from school after his arrest. 

As well as being sentenced to eight months in prison Jones was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years. 

He will also be required to sign the sex offenders’ register for 10 years. 

The TRA panel noted: “Mr Jones appeared to have had an otherwise unblemished record. There was evidence of good character prior to his conviction.” 

However, they said that his actions had been fundamentally incompatible with the role of a teacher. 

They added that Jones showed a lack of full insight and remorse, meaning there is some risk of repetition. 

Decision maker David Oatley concluded that Jones should be banned from teaching in the UK for life. 

A spokesperson for Hazelbury Primary School said: "In early 2021, we became aware that a primary-aged child had made an allegation that a teacher who was working at our school had sent them inappropriate messages on social media. 

"The individual concerned was quickly suspended and then arrested by the police.

"Since then, we have supported the subsequent investigations by both the police and the Teacher Regulation Agency in any way that we have been asked.  

"We firmly believe that our school is happy and safe place where our children thrive, and are deeply saddened that this has happened.

"We conducted a full external review of how this individual came to work in our school to see if there was anything we could have done differently, but no issues were raised in the very robust recruitment process that we follow."