A teacher from Kingston who discussed meeting who he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex has been banned from the profession.

Mohamed Dahir Mohamed, 34, believed he was messaging an underage child but it was actually an undercover police officer, a misconduct panel heard.

Mr Mohamed pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child on October 21, 2024, at Kingston Crown Court. He was sentenced on January 24, 2025, to imprisonment for six months suspended for 18 months.

A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel in February 2026 found Mr Mohamed should be indefinitely banned from teaching.

The panel heard Mr Mohamed had been working at Kingston Academy as a science teacher since September 1, 2021.

He was arrested at the school on November 8, 2023, as part of an investigation into an allegation that he had made inappropriate contact with a child under the age of 16, who was not a pupil at the school.

A police report said Mr Mohamed used social media sites Omegle and Snapchat between April 12 and May 26, 2023, to interact with the decoy profile of a 13-year-old girl.

Mr Mohamed pretended he was 19 and sent messages on Snapchat asking for details of her sexual experiences and if she wanted to meet up to have sex, according to the report. He also asked the girl to wear a skirt and send images of herself, it added.

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However, the profile was a decoy created by the police with an avatar of a 13-year-old girl.

Mr Mohamed was formally dismissed from the school on May 8, 2024.

The TRA ruled the offences committed by Mr Mohamed were "extremely serious" and breached teaching standards.

In a report, the panel said: "The interaction escalated over a period of several months from an initial conversation to sexual communications and advances, requests for sexual images, and attempts to arrange a meeting during the school holidays in a park or Airbnb for sexual activity.

"This demonstrated a clear attempt by Mr Mohamed to move the online interaction into a contact relationship, which was only prevented by police intervention because the profile was a decoy."

The panel heard evidence from Mr Mohamed that he was committed to rehabilitation and living responsibly moving forward but considered his insight into his behaviour and remorse to be limited.

David Oatley, on behalf of the Education Secretary, ruled indefinitely banning Mr Mohamed from teaching was "necessary to maintain public confidence and is proportionate and in the public interest".

A Kingston Academy spokesperson said: "The Kingston Academy is aware of the decision published by the Teaching Regulation Agency in relation to a former member of staff.

"The Kingston Academy places the highest priority on the safety and wellbeing of its students. We have robust safeguarding arrangements in place, including thorough safer recruitment procedures and ongoing safeguarding practices in line with statutory guidance.

"We have fully cooperated with all relevant authorities, including the police and the Teaching Regulation Agency – the case related to matters that took place outside the school."