A TEACHER accused of engaging in a sex act with a boy after striking up a relationship on the internet has been found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.

A National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) hearing was told Andrew Duffell, who resigned as an information technology teacher at Easingwold School, in North Yorkshire, last year, drove a 14-year-old boy from Stockton to a secluded spot in the North East before having sexual relations in the car.

Mr Duffell, who did not attend the hearing, faces being banned from teaching when a panel of the NCTL, a Depart of Education agency, meets in the new year to decide what action to take.

The hearing was told the teacher had first made friends with the boy, who attended a different school on Facebook in 2012, before swapping sexual WhatsApp messages.

The panel heard from the teenager’s mother, who had been shocked to find WhatsApp messages between Mr Duffell and her son.

Mr Duffell worked at Easingwold School between 2009 and 2012 and was promoted to the post of assistant principal teacher in Business and Enterprise in 2011.

He was suspended in November 2012, when the allegations came to light, and resigned a year later.

Although Cleveland Police began an investigation, the NCTL panel heard the case was dropped in December last year and the force have confirmed Mr Duffell is not facing any criminal charges.

The teacher denied having sex with the boy or knowing he was 14.

The panel decided the boy’s accounts were more credible and ruled that judging by photographs of the child at the time, a teacher of Mr Duffell’s experience should have known he was only 14.

A North Yorkshire County Council spokesman said Easingwold School followed all its policies and procedures when the allegations came to light.

The council’s director of children and young people’s services Pete Dwyer said: “North Yorkshire is extremely vigilant in its duty to safeguard children, it is our top priority.

"As soon as these allegations came to light the school acted in line with its internal procedures.

"He [Mr Duffell] is no longer employed at the school by the authority.”