What led to the banning of a teacher over the possession of stolen bank card information?
A maths teacher from East London has been prohibited from teaching due to holding more than 260 stolen bank card details on his electronic devices. Louis Kisitu Ssekabira, aged 30, was employed at Bishop Challenor Catholic School in Tower Hamlets in June 2021 when he accepted a police caution for having items used in fraud.
Details of the Case
Ssekabira previously worked at Droitwich Spa High School in Warwickshire, where police conducted a raid at his residence on May 5, 2020. During the operation, officers confiscated a MacBook, which contained 235 sets of card details, and an additional 62 sets of login credentials under different names. Moreover, an iPhone XR was found to have 11 card details and two login records, alongside an iPhone 5S containing 16 card details and five login credentials.
On June 25, 2021, while at Bishop Challenor, Ssekabira acknowledged the possession of these details and conveyed intentions to utilize them for fraudulent activities. During police questioning, he recognized the wrongdoing and showed remorse.
Conflicting Testimonies
Despite his admission, Ssekabira reportedly offered a different narrative to his colleagues at Bishop Challenor Catholic School. According to testimony from a senior teacher, Ssekabira claimed he purchased the laptop on Gumtree and discovered the card details after beginning to use it. The teacher indicated that he expressed excitement about the discovery but insisted he did not intend to act on the information, admitting he should have deleted it.
At a hearing conducted by the Teaching Regulation Agency, a panel concluded that Ssekabira’s actions fell significantly short of professional standards and posed a risk to the integrity of the profession. Consequently, he received a lifetime teaching ban, with the possibility of applying for a review of the prohibition order after five years.
Implications of the Hearing
The panel evaluated a police interview transcript indicating Ssekabira’s plans to engage in fraudulent activities, emphasizing that he was not coerced into maintaining possession of the information. They dismissed his claim of having randomly found the details on the laptop, noting the presence of similar information across multiple devices as evidence of intent to commit fraud.
Although it was reported to the Teaching Regulation Agency on July 1, 2021, Ssekabira continued his role at Bishop Challenor Catholic until leaving in August 2022. His LinkedIn profile suggests he subsequently taught at Isaac Newton Academy in Ilford from September 2022 to September 2024, followed by a year at St Paul’s Academy in Abbey Wood, where he reportedly acted as Head of Year 10 until September this year.
In the prohibition order, the panel expressed concerns regarding Ssekabira’s lack of insight into the ramifications of his actions on the victims whose details he possessed. They highlighted a lack of transparency regarding his caution with the school, which became known to them through police communication rather than his disclosure.
The panel concluded that, while Ssekabira displayed potential to contribute positively to the teaching community in the future, his failure to acknowledge the impact of his actions warranted the imposed prohibition. He retains the option to appeal to the High Court within 28 days of being notified of this order.
