Milton Keynes RE teacher had more than 250 indecent images of children

A religious studies teacher has pleaded guilty to a string of sexual offences after officers raided his home found more than 250 indecent images of children.

Philip Allen, who has since been fired from his job at Shenley Brook End School, is a prominent figure in religious education nationally and has written frequently for the Times Educational Supplement.

SEE MORE: Milton Keynes RE teacher in court over indecent images of childrenThis week the 48-year-old married man from Potterspury, appeared at Northampton Magistrates’ Court to plead guilty to six charges of making indecent images of children and a charge of possessing prohibited images.

He admitted possessing 172 ‘category A’ indecent images of children, the most extreme kind. He also admitted having 46 category B images and 37 of category C.

Prosecuting, Jerena Tomaszewska said Allen’s crimes were uncovered after police seized his electronic devices in June during a raid on his house.

She said: “Images were found on a laptop and individual images found on an external hard drive.

“The report shows that some of the images were also backed up from the defendant’s iPad.”

SEE MORE: Milton Keynes RE teacher pleads guilty to making indecent images of childrenAllen had been a member of the TES teacher panel and a national TES advisor for key stage 4 religious studies.

He was bailed under a condition he could not come into unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 18.

Presiding magistrate Diana Whittaker told Allen: “Our powers of sentencing are insufficient for you, these charges are too serious.”

She referred Allen to Crown Court and he faces up to a year in prison.