A private boarding school house master has been banned from teaching for life after a panel ruled that he slept in the same bed as a student and that his actions were “sexually motivated”.

Kevin Cooper travelled to London with a pupil, slept in the same hotel bed as her and met with her in restaurants, the Teaching Regulation Agency has found.

The 47-year-old, who had worked as a geography and information technology teacher at St James’ School in Grimsby, also communicated with the student on social media and met with her in a park.

A decision report published today from the panel said his actions had been “calculated, motivated and persisted over a period of several months”.

He was handed an indefinite prohibition order banning him from teacher and will not be able to apply to have it lifted.

Mr Cooper had denied that his actions were sexually motivated.

In a statement, he had said that he and the pupil had developed strong feelings for each other.

He added: “My intention was always to remain utterly professional - once it became clear that she felt as strongly for me as I did for her, I harboured the hope that after leaving school, we might enter a romantic relationship.” 

The panel said it was unable to reconcile Mr Cooper’s actions with his denial that he had been sexually motivated.

The allegations relate to events in 2016. He was suspended from the school in July of that year.

The panel report says Mr Cooper and the pupil had been found by police in a vehicle parked in a lay-by in the early morning. 

The pupil had said she had gone to London with Mr Cooper for three nights. She said they had stayed in a hotel room together but there had not been any sexual contact.

Mr Cooper had said that at least one of the meals at a restaurant had happened after he resigned from the school. He also said that when he met the pupil in the park it had been a “small group after-school activity” in which the pupil had happened to be the only person attending.

The panel found that at least some of the restaurant visits had taken place before Mr Cooper had been dismissed by the school.

The report said: “The panel’s findings against Mr Cooper involved him pursuing an inappropriate relationship with a pupil over a period of months, and persisting in this course of action despite an ongoing investigation into his behaviour.

“There is, therefore, a strong public interest consideration in respect of the protection of pupils, given the serious findings of this inappropriate relationship.”