A teacher lost his job for being ‘inappropriate’ to female pupils and staring at their bodies.

Josh Taylor, 53, invaded the ‘personal space’ of girls as young as 17 during an English class on September 27, in 2018.

After they reported the incident, Grwp Llandrillo Menai, in Wales, investigated and sacked him.

But he later appealed the decision, launching four claims of his own against the school where he had worked for 23 years.

He has been successful with some of the claims, but a judge has again ruled Taylor exhibited ‘inappropriate behaviour of a sexual nature’.

Taylor, whose eyesight is affected by his diabetes, tried to say he was not able to stare at anything during class because he was wearing old contact lenses which had given him a headache.

The Cardiff tribunal heard: ‘He said that he couldn’t read due to this and couldn’t stare at anything.

‘He said he was not in a position to stare at anyone with focus, particularly on that day, and was not looking at those people sexually.’

But the panel believed the young girls’ version of events.

They said he used to set them work then walk around the class ‘appearing to look at their work but looking down their tops instead’.

They also said he would look at their bottoms as they left the room for a break.

Other pupils complained about Taylor’s bad ‘appearance and hygiene’ and would ‘make students fail’.

Around four months before this lesson, Taylor had already been given a warning for emphasising the word ‘c**k’ in a female pupil’s name.

Investigations also uncovered that Taylor, who was also a media studies teacher, kept CD-roms at the college with ‘5,000 glamour images’ of two ‘young female celebrities’, some of which ‘showed them posing in underwear or swimwear’.

After he was sacked in April 2019, he appealed the decision, making the same argument about his contact lenses.

But he also accused the college of discrimination for sacking him ‘because of his eyesight issues’.

He also claimed his employer was guilty of breach of contract and a failure to make reasonable adjustments for his disability. These were successful.

The discrimination allegation was dismissed, as employment Judge Robert Vernon said Taylor’s contact lens defence was ‘unimpressive’, concluding Taylor’s behaviour ‘was not connected to his disability’.

Whilst Taylor won several of his claims, any compensation he is due will be reduced by 90% because of the misconduct he is guilty of.

The exact number will be determined at another hearing.

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