B.C. teacher jailed for child pornography banned from teaching in province

A teacher who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography has been handed a lifetime ban from teaching in B.C.

Luke Lawson, 53, was sentenced in June to four months in jail after he pled guilty earlier in the year after he used work computers to print out and store images of naked girls.

Lawson was a long-time councillor at an independent West Vancouver school, Mulgrave School.

According to the British Columbia Commissioner for Teacher Regulation, the images did not include any students from Mulgrave.

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Along with jail time, Lawson was also sentenced to 18 months probation, which also includes 10 years on the National Sex Offender Registry.

The commissioner said given the nature of the conduct and that Lawson failed to “act ethically and undermined the credibility of the teaching profession,” a lifetime ban on applying for teaching registration in the province is an appropriate consequence.

At the time Lawson’s charges became public, the Mulgrave School said as soon as it was made aware of the allegation, Lawson was suspended from teaching.

“Based on conversations with the police, we understand that there is no connection to any current or past Mulgrave students,” Mulgrave School said in a statement. “This staff member was immediately suspended and any access to the school facility, devices, and digital accounts was revoked. There has been no contact between this individual and any student throughout the period of the investigation.”

“Cases such as this one, which are thankfully very rare, are deeply disturbing and upsetting. Our number one priority is always student safety, and we work hard to hire and retain highly qualified staff that uphold the highest standards of conduct and operate always in the best interest of our students and children in the community,” it adds.

“We understand that people will have some significant emotional reactions to this information coming out now if they didn’t know earlier,” John Wray, head of Mulgrave School added. “As a parent myself of young children, I can only imagine what that feeling would be like if I’d received the same information from my children’s school.”

–With files from Cole Schisler