A primary school teacher who was jailed for burglary and failed to fully disclose a string of convictions when applying for a teaching job has been banned for life.

Jeremy Clutson acknowledged to a professional conduct panel that he had been found guilty of a series of offences, and that he had not been open about them with his future employer.

However, he denied that this amounted to unacceptable professional conduct.

According to a Teaching Regulation Agency report, published this month, the 50-year-old has worked as a teacher since 2000.

It says: “Following the breakdown of his marriage and subsequent divorce in May 2008, Mr Clutson embarked upon a series of events which resulted in him being convicted of a number of criminal offences including driving a vehicle with excess alcohol, harassment, burglaries and threatening to damage or destroy property over the course of an eight-year period.

“As a result of these crimes, Mr Clutson was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment and received a number of additional suspended sentences, including a remand and recall to prison.”

However, when he applied for a teaching role at St Francesca Cabrini Primary School, London, in about September 2016, he had “failed to declare his offences in a timely manner”.

And when he did set out his criminal record in a declaration in January 2017, the information he provided was “lacking” and failed to show “the full extent and seriousness of his offences”.

Mr Clutson told the panel this was “due to space on the form”.

The panel describes this reasoning as “disingenuous”, noting that the form “clearly stated that additional sheets can be used if necessary”.

The report also accuses him of “deliberately seeking to circumvent the DBS system”.

The document says: “In behaving in the way that Mr Clutson did, he placed his own personal gain before the honesty and integrity expected of teachers and it is the panel’s belief that these actions suggest that he is not fit to act as a role models for pupils.”

It adds that “in deliberately seeking to circumvent the DBS system, Mr Clutson failed to have regard for the need to safeguard pupils and naively understood his criminal actions to be ‘minor’.

“In doing so, Mr Clutson sought to justify his actions by his repeated assertion that they were not related to his ability to teach.”

The panel accepted that Mr Clutson had a previous good record as a teacher and “is well liked by his pupils and parents alike”, but added that “very limited” mitigation evidence was provided about his ability to teach.

It also did not believe he has shown any true remorse or insight, having told the panel: “How many times do I need to be castigated and punished for things I’ve done in the past... you want a body on a slab from the looks of it...I’m fed up with it now”.

Alan Meyrick, who made the final decision on behalf of the education secretary, ruled that Mr Clutson be banned from teaching indefinitely, and not be allowed apply for his eligibility to be restored.