Northumberland woman who filmed sexual abuse banned from teaching

A primary school teacher who sexually abused children has been banned from the profession.

Zoe Williams, from Northumberland, was jailed for 10 years in November 2023 for several offences.

They included her and her paedophile boyfriend filming themselves sexually abusing a child.

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) banned Williams from teaching indefinitely following a hearing in August.

At the trial in 2023, the judge said Williams and her boyfriend Thomas Surtees had been “fuelled by drink or drugs” and she found it “very hard to credit” that neither “shared an interest in paedophilia”.

Surtees was jailed for 15 years.

The court also heard that graphic messages had been found in which Williams encouraged her boyfriend to commit further abuse.

The judge said that Williams had used her position as a primary school teacher to “titillate” Surtees.

The TRA hearing was held without any representatives of Williams at her request.

A report detailing the judgement, said the panel had not been given any evidence of “insight or remorse”.

It said that Williams had fell “significantly short” of the standards expected of the profession and that banning her from teaching was in the public interest.

Williams was banned from teaching in England indefinitely and was not given the right to later seek to restore her qualifications.