Former Suffolk primary school head Thomas Singleton is banned from teaching for life

A former Suffolk headteacher who was jailed for six years after being caught with more than one million indecent images of children has been banned from teaching for life.

Thomas Singleton, 43, who had previously lived in Framlingham, was sent to prison in 2022 after being convicted at Suffolk Magistrates’ Court of eight offences.

The offences included taking and making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children, possessing prohibited images of children and possessing a 170-page 'paedophile manual', including detailed instructions on how to abuse children and avoid detection.

At the time of the offences, Singleton was working as a headteacher at a Suffolk primary school where he was also a safeguarding lead.

On August 6 David Oatley, on behalf of the Secretary of State, imposed a prohibition order banning Singleton from teaching for life, with no provision for a review period, following a recommendation by a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency.

Mr Oatley said: “The findings of misconduct are particularly serious as they include a finding of taking and making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children and possessing prohibited images of children and extreme pornographic images.”

He added that it was necessary to impose a prohibition order in order to maintain public confidence in the profession.

Having regard to the nature of the offences and the sentence Singleton received, the panel determined that his actions were ‘fundamentally incompatible’ with his being a teacher.

The panel observed that Singleton's actions ‘raised obvious and significant public and child protection concerns’.

Singleton was arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in February 2021 after investigators found he had accessed indecent images of children online from his house.

Officers seized laptops and a number of digital storage devices from his home and also recovered a toddler-sized doll.

He had amassed a collection of underwear and clothing for babies and young children.

Analysis of his electronic devices showed he had 1,050,448 indecent images of children in categories A-C, 45,216 prohibited images of children, and 52 extreme pornographic images.

Within those were a collection of pseudo-images, which had been created by Singleton by superimposing himself into photos so it looked like he was engaging in sexual activity with children.

Singleton pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced on October 13, 2022, at Ipswich Crown Court to six years in prison.

He is also subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and has been placed on the Sex Offender Register indefinitely.

On the day of sentencing, Michael Parkinson, NCA operations manager, said: “As a safeguarding lead and the head of a primary school, Singleton supposedly represented a dependable figure of safety and trust for young children, their families and the school community.

“This investigation showed he grossly abused that position.”