A teacher who tried to chat to a ‘13-year-old girl’ online and asked her for pictures has been barred from the classroom for life.

Sukhwinder Singh taught maths at Boldon School in South Tyneside when he started speaking to what he believed to be a teenager online.

The teacher, 28, even sent pictures from his classroom, made lewd comments, and asked her for photos.

But it’s understood the girl, ‘Chloe’, was actually an undercover police officer working on a sting operation to catch paedophiles.

In February 2023 police arrested him at home on suspicion of attempting to chat to a 13-year-old online.

He appeared in court that May where he was convicted and narrowly avoided a four-month jail term, with his sentence being suspended for 18 months. He was also placed on the sex offenders register.

A judge told him: “You repeatedly asked her for images. You said you bet she flirted with her teachers, and that if you were her teacher she would bend over so you could see up her skirt. You asked her to do that, and you asked repeatedly for images of her breasts.”

Singh then resigned from the school he had been working at since September 2020 with immediate effect.

This month a teaching misconduct panel convened to decide whether he should ever be allowed to teach again.

Publishing its decision it said: “Mr Singh’s actions raised obvious and significant public and child protection concerns.

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“Mr Singh's actions were fundamentally incompatible with his being a teacher. This was conduct of the most serious nature. The nature and gravity of the offence was a matter of significant concern.

It added his actions were pre-meditated and deliberate and despite the child disclosing their age he repeatedly engaged in sexual communication with her.

He was banned from teaching for life and will never be able to have the order revoked.