A former teacher at Churcher's College in Petersfield has been struck off for 'serious dishonesty' in fabricating a career spanning two decades

A former teacher from Churcher's College in Petersfield has struck off from teaching for fabricating his CV.

A teacher misconduct panel from the Department for Education has ruled that Paul Elliott, 53, had fabricated claims about playing for Wigan Warriors rugby team, studying medicine at the University of Oxford, and his roles at Churcher’s College in Petersfield.

Mr Elliott had joined Yarm School in 2018, when concerns about inconsistencies on his CV sparked an internal investigation, leading to the misconduct panel.

Along with claims that he had been part of a side to play against the Australian National Rugby team and that he had been a Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University, the teacher said he had been employed as director of rugby and master in charge of Oxbridge at Churcher’s College.

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But the independent school told the panel that Mr Elliott had been employed as a rugby coach, a PE teacher, and he had never been a master in charge of Oxbridge.

On the balance of probabilities, the misconduct panel has found that these claims and more than a dozen other alleged roles were fabrications.

In the panel’s report, Sarah Buxcey said the teacher had ‘demonstrated a pattern of dishonesty in his entire career’.

She added: ‘The panel’s findings against Mr Elliott involved serious dishonesty.

‘The panel was satisfied that the conduct of Mr Elliott amounted to misconduct of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.

‘The panel felt that Mr Elliott had undermined trust in the profession by lying on his employment applications.’

The panel also investigated claims about his A-level and O-level qualifications and was unable to establish what qualifications Mr Elliott had. He claimed he had 12 As at O-level and 6 As at A-level.

Addressing the teacher, Ms Buxcey added: ‘You are guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.’

Mr Elliott does not admit the allegations.

He has now been struck off, meaning that he is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.