Ballakermeen teacher used AI to make indecent images of pupils
A former teacher who used artificial intelligence to make pictures of two 15-year-old school girls into indecent images has been jailed for 19 months.Liam Taylor altered stills from videos he had taken of students when he was teaching at Ballakermeen High School in Douglas.Douglas Courthouse heard the 26-year-old, from Darwen in Lancashire, took images of the students in a classroom and the library without their knowledge.Jailing him, Deemster Graeme Cook said he had abused his position of trust "greatly" and immediate custody was the only appropriate sentence.
The court heard the images came to light after police went to Taylor's house about another matter and seized his electronic devices in June 2024.A total of 43 images were found, and while those on his mobile phone were "innocent" pictures of the students, a number of indecent images - including 31 that had been altered to show the girls in a state of undress - were found on his laptop.The court was told he answered "no comment" to all questions to police in interviews in August last year and again in January.He later pleaded guilty to six charges of making and possessing pseudo images of children on 27 May 2024.Taylor's defence advocate told the court he had lost his career in teaching as a result of his offending and would struggle to find any work in future as a result of the conviction.
'Protect our school communities'
Deemster Cook said: "Any child, male or female, should be able to go to school to be educated and not have what you did to them done to them."He had to send a "message" to others that they would face jail for committing similar offences, the deemster added.Taylor was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years, which restricting his access to devices that can access the internet, and will be banned from returning to the island for five years after his release.The Isle of Man Constabulary previously confirmed it was "satisfied that no contact offences have been committed by the defendant on any of the students affected by his actions".In a statement, the Department of Education, Sport and Culture (Desc) said Taylor's actions were a "grave breach of the trust placed in educators"."We remain committed to upholding the highest standards of conduct within our schools and will continue working diligently to protect our school communities," it said."Desc will continue collaborating with law enforcement and other relevant agencies to ensure the safety and integrity of our educational environments."The safety and well-being of our students remain of utmost importance.""We extend our gratitude to the Isle of Man Constabulary for their thorough investigation and to the school community for their resilience during this challenging time."
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