Sex offender teacher who 'married' teenage girl is banned from classrooms for life

The ban, imposed on behalf of the Education Secretary, comes after the latest moves against Mazhar Hussain, who was a science teacher in Birmingham, by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).

Hussain, 40, was jailed last March for three years and three months for his crimes against the girl. The teenager explained to police that she believed she had entered into a marriage with Hussain after an over-the-phone ceremony.

The girl had been given that phone, plus a bracelet, as birthday gifts by Hussain.

Detectives found 2,244 message exchanges between him and the girl, many of which were explicit, all sent over a five-week period in 2018.

In the wake of the Birmingham Crown Court decision a TRA disciplinary panel said of Hussain: “This was a premeditated course of conduct that took advantage of his position of trust over Pupil A and also demonstrated a complete disregard for her wellbeing for his own sexual gratification.

“There was clear evidence of ongoing harm not only to Pupil A, but also to her family.”

The panel had been told that Hussain was convicted at the Crown Court of four counts of sexual activity with a girl under 16.

Messages found on a phone he had provided for the girl were of a sexual nature and among other things the TRA panel was told that the girl had revealed that Hussain had undertaken a fake marriage ceremony with her over the phone.

The panel said his conduct “was far outside that which could reasonably be tolerated under any circumstances” and recommended that, whereas some teachers who are banned are given the chance to seek to have the ban lifted at a later date, that in this case the conduct was so serious that Hussain should never be allowed to return to the country’s classrooms.

Agreeing with them and imposing the lifetime ban, TRA decision maker Alan Meyrick said Hussain had been convicted of a number of serious sexual offences and that the lifetime ban was necessary to maintain public confidence in the teaching profession and was both “proportionate and in the public interest.”