Javier Martin-Navas has been banned from teaching indefinitely by the Teaching Regulation Authority
A former teacher at a £30,000-a-year North London private school was caught with depraved sexual abuse images of children. Javier Martin-Navas, 35, was Head of Modern Languages at North Bridge House Senior School in Canonbury, Islington, when he was arrested at his home in Deptford on February 1, 2022 – he left his position the next day.
On his devices police found 51 indecent photos of a child and five indecent videos of a child, including two Category A depicting the the worst kind of abuse. After he pleaded guilty to three offences at Bromley Magistrates’ Court in March 2024, the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) ruled that Martin-Navas should be banned from teaching in England for life.
Charlotte Tassell-Dent, headteacher at North Bridge House Canonbury, said: “We welcome the decision of the Teaching Regulation Agency to prohibit Mr Martin-Navas from teaching indefinitely. As soon as we were made aware of this matter, Mr Martin-Navas left our employment immediately.
“We are thankful that none of his activities affected anyone in our community. We take safeguarding seriously, and our procedures are regularly inspected to ensure we are always following best practice.”
In April last year, Navas was sentenced to six months in custody suspended for 18 months. He was ordered to undertake up to 30 days of rehabilitation activity, 100 hours of unpaid work and to sign the sex offenders’ register for seven years.
When a TRA panel met to assess Martin-Navas’ future as a teacher in November, he failed to attend the hearing. Decision maker Marc Cavey concluded nothing less than an indefinite prohibition order would serve to protect and safeguard children from him.
“The panel had limited information about the circumstances of the offence, but was satisfied that by its nature, it was an extremely serious offence, as reflected in the sentence received and the fact that the offences included category A images,” the panel wrote.
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