Teacher banned indefinitely for calling Islam satanic

A teacher who described Islam as "satanic" and told pupils that "cocaine was purer back in the day" has been banned from the profession.

A Teaching Regulation Agencyhearing in December found Patrick Lawler, 62, who taught in Northumberland and Bristol, was guilty of professional misconduct and also brought the teaching profession into disrepute.

The panel heard there was an interest in banning him "in respect of the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils".

Lawler previously featured in an undercover BBC Wales investigation into extreme far-right views among a group's members in Wales and England, in which he said race war was "inevitable".

Lawler did not engage with the proceedings or express remorse. He replied to an earlier BBC request for comment but did not directly address the points raised in the hearing.

His views appeared in BBC Wales documentary Unmasked: Extreme Far Right, in which an undercover reporter infiltrated far-right group Patriotic Alternative (PA) and met members in parts of south Wales, and in England.

Speaking in 2024 to the undercover reporter at an event held by the group, he said a race war was "absolutely inevitable".

He told the reporter that "all" foreigners had no right to be in the UK and said if any refused to leave "the only way to get rid of them will be to kill every single one of them. And we will have to have hearts of steel to do that".

These comments did not form part of the panel hearing.

When asked about his comments afterwards, Lawler accused the BBC of having an anti-white bias and "persecuting ordinary British people who care deeply about the safety and wellbeing of our indigenous people".

He appears to still be involved with his regional branch of the group, recently being pictured on the PA Telegram channel attending a Christmas dinner.

Lawler has now been banned from teaching indefinitely and can apply to be reinstated after 22 December 2029.

In the hearing he was found to have "authored or co-authored" a series of online newsletters saying Islam was "demonic" and calling sex between two men an "unnatural, unhealthy, disgusting perversion".

The panel found Lawler had distributed "material which was intolerant of others' faiths and beliefs".

In the classroom, the panel found, he had not taken a "child-centric approach".

Proven allegations included Lawler calling Martin Luther King a "fraud".

On a separate occasion he told pupils he was "surprised you were not all hanging from lamp-posts" and in another lesson said "back in the day you used to be able to get cocaine purer".

The panel also found a number of other allegations were not proven and heard Lawler had experienced "difficult personal circumstances" outside of school.

It also heard that some colleagues spoke positively about him as a teacher, with one witness saying an intervention group "wouldn't have passed" their exams without him.