A LEARNING support worker for children with disabilities at Coleg Cambria has been found guilty of unprofessional conduct and reprimanded after a video he took of himself performing a sex act while dancing was posted on YouTube.

Gareth David Thomas, who had worked for Coleg Cambria since October 1998, denied his actions amounted to ‘unacceptable professional conduct’ at an Education Workforce Council (EWC) Fitness To Practise hearing in Ewloe.

He admitted participating in a video or videos which were inappropriate or explicit and that he shared those videos on Facebook Messenger with a person he had recently met online.

The tribunal, headed by the Education Workforce Council at St David’s Park in Ewloe, heard that Mr Thomas had shown “remorse and acknowledgement that he had put the college in a difficult position”.

The concluding statement read: “The committee has considered all the evidence put forward, in particular to Mr Thomas’ previous good history and not being subject to any previous committee hearings.

“The incident did not occur in hours while practicing, it did not affect any learners, and he has shown a genuine expression for remorse.”

The statement added that the committee had accepted Mr Thomas “can be easily led by others” and that he has been in that support position for 19 years.

The tribunal, chaired by lay member Sheila Drayton, looked into whether the accepted allegations showed “unacceptable professional conduct.”

The explicit video was first discovered by Wendy Elson, marketing officer at the college, who said in a statement received by the tribunal: “I was undertaking my usual task by searching the press coverage of the college.

“During this task I came across a video when I searched ‘Coleg Cambria.’ I clicked on the link as I do with all videos and this is when I realised the content was explicit.

“The title clearly set out that it was a video of Gareth Thomas and named him as a support worker at Coleg Cambria."

The statement added he was naked and he was dancing while performing a sex act.

Ms Elson immediately emailed a link of the video to Ceri Duckers-Robinson, human resources department of the college, to “escalate the video to management.”

The video was subsequently removed and an investigation by an independent HR officer, Helen Mullock, who did not know Mr Thomas prior to the investigation, was launched into Mr Thomas’ behaviour on May 9 2017. He resigned his position on June 16, 2017.

Mr Thomas met with the HR director on May 10 and was suspended from work on June 16 pending the investigation, which was completed on May 19.

Mrs Mullock provided evidence to the committee of screenshots capturing the search bar and link for the video on YouTube.

During the investigation, Mr Thomas explained that on April 29, 2017, he received a friend request on Facebook from someone who then later “coerced” him into sending a sexual video of himself over the social media site.

Mr Thomas said a few days later, that person then told him to upload that video on to YouTube, and that they would upload it themselves if he did not.

Mr Thomas believed this was a hoax. The video was then uploaded by the Facebook user. 20 minutes later, without Mr Thomas’ consent, he said.

Defending Mr Thomas was Ken Thomas, his father. who also works at Coleg Cambria.

Mr K Thomas said to the committee: “The incident occurred in his private time and did not affect any of the learners in the college and was outside college hours.

“He understands what he has done and has shown insight into his flaws and knows what he did was wrong.

“As a registered person he has provided a genuine expression of regret and has apologised to the college on numerous occasions.

“He was under duress to upload this video and he thought he would overcome this by deleting his messages and that the situation would resolve itself by this process. He has got a previous two reviews from colleagues and all these have been positive. He has spent 18 years dealing with students with learning difficulties, working all day without a break, and moved site as requested.”

“I can categorically say he will not repeat the incident.” It has not happened before and I as his father can guarantee that.”

“This was a one-off incident that unfortunately went wrong and he has been embarrassed and humiliated by this person.”

Presenting officer for the EWC, Cadi Dewi, said Mr Thomas had breached two “key principles”: to uphold trust and public confidence, and guidelines on use of college information technology systems.

The commite have adjourned to discuss whether Mr Thomas breached the College’s code of conduct and social media policy, which clearly states: “Be aware of what you post as There is no such thing as delete.”

Cadi Dewi, presiding officer highlighted that the policy and code are readily available on the College’s intranet system, and an email alert is sent out weekly alerting staff to any changes in either.

Ms Dewi said: “Mr Thomas was aware of the code of conduct. I hope that you as a panel accept that videos like this cannot be created by a registered person.”

She highlighted the name and logo of the college is a registered trademark and cannot be posted online by any individuals who work there.

Ms Dewi added: “The duty of care states that it should be shared with the college if any individual knows they have made a mistake. Mr Thomas failed to make this aware to the college.

“Trust and confidence is a key principle in the code of conduct.

“I ask the disciplinary record to consider Mr Thomas’ peer reviews, regular reviews, no previous difficulties with his conduct and ni previous disciplinary findings regarding his profession.”

The concluding statement read: “It remains in the public confidence to protect the profession. There will be a reprimand to make clear the fact that Mr Thomas’ conduct was unacceptable.”

The reprimand is for two years and will be “disclosed to any employer”. as part of the pre-employment background process.