A paedophile has been banned from his job as a teacher after police tricked him into thinking he was sending sexually explicit images to a 14-year-old boy.

Thomas Calverley was a PE teacher at The Adeyfield Academy in Hemel Hempstead when, in an online chat room, he sent indecent images to a person he believed to be a child called Ben.

In fact, Ben was an undercover police officer pretending to be a 14-year-old boy.

During the online chat, Calverley asked 'Ben' to send images of himself masturbating.

The 29-year-old was tracked by police through his online profile and arrested.

Calverley pleaded guilty to attempting/engaging in sexual communication with a child, and attempting/causing a child under 16 to watch/look at an image of sexual activity.

He was sentenced to a community order for two years, with a requirement for him to attend the Horizon Sex Offender Programme. He was also sentenced to 30 days of rehabilitation activity, 120 hours of unpaid work, and was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.

Calverley has now been banned from teaching forever, after a hearing by the professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency.

The Secretary of State for Education said: "In my judgement, the lack of evidence of insight and remorse means that there is some risk of the repetition of this behaviour, and this puts at risk the future wellbeing of pupils."

Calverley had been banned from teaching indefinitely and is not entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.

He has the right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days of the decision.