[2024] UKUT 391 (AAC)

The evidence for this is contained in the notes of a LADO meeting dated 1 July 2021 [40]. The notes state that concerns were reported to LADO from a teacher, and it related to concerns regarding three girls who were attending AVS’s company on work experience in 2018. AVS was constantly asking about boyfriends and their personal life. One girl just said, ‘yes’ to a personal question asking if she had a boyfriend to ‘shut him up’. On one occasion it is believed AVS sent a text message referring to one of these young girls to a male colleague, the reply to this was along the lines “yeah well you still would though??”

It was reported AVS also had a pornographic image of oral sex on his computer screen, which he showed to these young girls and showed the girls a gun (later discovered to be an airgun) in his desk drawer at work. These girls were only there one week and on the Friday of that week he offered them all a lift home; they declined due to feeling uncomfortable in his presence and from the previous experiences that week. They reported their experience and fears to school and in turn this was reported to LADO. The records at the time described this as ‘inappropriate adult banter’ and took no action [40].

There is also a note in a D[] Children’s Services strategy meeting of 19/8/21 [67] which states that in 2018 AVS was providing work placements for school-age children and there were three girls from a school that had gone to his workplace for this placement opportunity. ‘They literally lasted a week and there were lots of concerns about how uncomfortable he made the girls feel and inappropriate comments. He had a picture on his computer screen visible of a woman giving a man oral sex and he had his messages coming through on his computer that were visible to all the girls and one of them was around him having a conversation with another male adult member of staff and AVS telling this adult member of staff that one of the young girls had got a boyfriend. Because he kept asking them all the time if they had boyfriends and then there was some joke made around but you still would wouldn’t want you? And also, AVS opened his drawer and showed the girls an airgun with pellets which made them feel really unsafe. So, they reported their concerns, and they were immediately pulled from the placement and the school stopped using the placement’ [67]. The referral does make clear that the allegation was against the owner who was said to have made inappropriate comments towards them and is in possession of a firearm on the premises.

AVS denied this allegation stating it is in respect to actions related to a business partner while he was out of the office [102]. From AVS’s submissions dated 3 November 2021 [150-152] he reiterates that it was a co-worker who was responsible not him. He transcribes the LADO referral dated 1 October 2018. The firearm appears to have been a toy gun when looked at by the police. The matter was not actioned further either by the police or the LADO in 2018 but had been revived in 2021 after AVS’s relationship with Children’s Services had broken down.

On 16 September 2022 AVS appealed to the Upper Tribunal against the barring decision. The grounds were as follows [203-204]:

The DBS materially erred in fact in finding that the Appellant: