Ex Scotch College teacher charged with child porn offences
A former Scotch College teacher has been charged with child porn offences after police swooped on him as he landed at Melbourne Airport from an overseas trip.
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A teacher has been charged with child porn offences after police swooped on the former private school leader at Melbourne Airport.
Andrew Robert Grant, 58, was arrested by AFP officers after getting off an international flight on December 19 last year.
The registered teacher, whose most recent work in Victoria was in the junior school at Scotch College, was charged with one count of obtaining child abuse material outside Australia.
The Herald Sun understands material was allegedly found on the Ringwood man’s phone, which officers seized once he touched down.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Mr Grant was Head of Bradshaw House at Scotch and Scout Master for 1st Hawthorn Scotch College before he left the school in 2015 and went abroad.
Mr Grant told the Herald Sun the matter was “a total misunderstanding” from when he was overseas.
“It has nothing to do with Australia and nothing to do with Scotch College,” he said.
“I’m very confident it will be resolved and be shown to be a complete misunderstanding.”
According to an interview on the Scotch website, Mr Grant had been a teacher for more than three decades, including at Scotch, Eltham College and Penleigh and Essendon Grammar.
Despite the charge, which related to children, Scotch College was not advised of the matter regarding its former teacher.
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It’s understood the teaching watchdog was unable to alert the school for privacy reasons.
Principal Tom Batty said the school had “recently been informed by the Herald Sun about allegations against a former teacher”.
“The teacher left Scotch in 2015 and the allegations relate to matters subsequent to his time at the School,” he said.
“The School has no record of concern or complaint regarding this teacher’s time at Scotch.”
Mr Grant’s teaching registration has been suspended by the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT).
He will face a committal mention at Melbourne Magistrates Court on April 24.