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The Independent

Ketamine-addicted teacher sent sexualised messages to pupil while in ‘K hole'

A teacher has been banned from the profession after he sent 'sexualised' messages to a student and admitted to an addiction to ketamine. Shane Lycett, 39, was the head of computing at Dane Court Grammar School in Broadstairs, Kent. Concerns were raised in 2024 about messages he had earlier sent a female student, according to a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) tribunal. In a disciplinary interview that followed, Mr Lycett said he had been addicted to ketamine for two years and that he took the drug every other day on average, the TRA panel said in its judgment. He said that he would get into 'K holes' and as a result could not remember sending the messages to the student, identified only as Pupil A. However, he told the meeting that he believed they must have been sent by him. The TRA found that Mr Lycett failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with the student by accepting her friend request on Facebook, sending her messages and making inappropriate comments. Mr Lycett offered to buy the student cocaine on her birthday, suggested that they 'go out drinking' when she was 18, and made references to ingesting alcohol and drugs, Pupil A's witness statement said. He also called the student a 'TILF' – which the panel said stands for 'Teenager I'd Like to F***'. The panel found that his actions were sexually motivated. 'The panel did not accept that there was any plausible innocent explanation as to why he had acted in the way he had with Pupil A,' it said. 'The panel did not consider that Mr Lycett's excuse of 'being in a K hole' was a plausible justification for his actions.' Police, who interviewed Mr Lycett after concerns were raised, took no further action because of 'insufficient evidence', according to the tribunal. The TRA panel also found it proven that the teacher took ketamine on one or more occasions between 2022 and 2024. 'Mr Lycett admitted to having a 'crippling addiction to ketamine' over the previous two years and that he had taken it most days,' it said. It concluded that he was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and that his behaviour could bring the profession into disrepute. 'The panel considered the content of the messages Mr Lycett sent to be disturbing, in particular the fact that he normalised swearing and taking drugs and used sexualised language towards a pupil at the school,' it said. 'The panel considered these messages to be highly inappropriate for a teacher to send to a pupil.' It added that while the allegations took place outside the education setting, it believed Mr Lycett's conduct was 'intrinsically linked to his profession as a teacher'. He has been banned indefinitely from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England.