Teacher banned for working as stripper

A secondary school teacher who led a double life as a stripper and adult movie star has been suspended from teaching for two years.

Benedict Garrett, 31, working under the alias of “Johnny Anglais”, moonlighted as a stripper while teaching sex education at Beal High School in Ilford, Essex – as part of his role as head of Personal, Social, Health and Economic education.

Mr Garrett was barred from working as a teacher by the General Teaching Council Panel in Birmingham this afternoon, after his identity was found by students shortly before he was sacked by the school in July 2010. The former schoolteacher also admitted to working as an adult movie star before starting at Beal High in January 2008.

Speaking exclusively to Yahoo! News, Mr Garrett said: “My reason for going along today was not to argue the facts but simply to represent a point of view that doesn’t agree with everybody in society who believes that porn and stripping has a negative effect on society.
 
“There are many other things that teachers do indulge in, which are public knowledge, that are far worse [than sexual entertainment] and if you are calling yourself a role model you should not be doing,” he added. “Obviously I disagree with the decision but under the circumstances I think it is a fair ruling, if they had let me off it would have opened a can of worms for the teaching profession.

“I have no plans to return [to teaching], it is nice to have the option now but it is unlikely that anyone would employ me.”
 
It is was also alleged that Mr Garrett had text message, email and Facebook communications with the school’s Year 10 students that was inappropriate as it fell “outside the boundaries of the professional teacher/student relationship”, the committee was told. Representing himself, Mr Garrett maintained that teachers should be able to keep their professional and personal lives separate.

“They may go out and get drunk off their faces,” he told the hearing yesterday. “They are human and if they are doing it and it is legal that is their choice.
 
“It is not going anywhere,” he added. “Pornography is here to stay, the Internet is here to stay, social networking is here to stay. Being told that it’s wrong, that it’s immoral is not an appropriate response.”

Mr Garrett said he plans to continue stripping and working in pornography after today’s ruling.