Lifetime ban for North Vancouver teacher caught with child pornography

A former North Vancouver elementary school teacher caught with child pornography has been handed a lifetime ban on teaching.

Details of the offence and the ban were revealed in a Teacher Regulation Branch discipline decision posted Tuesday.

According to the decision, police caught Graham Christopher Bowering with the offending videos, images and writing on Feb. 28, 2021, after information from an internet service provider led to a search of his home.

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Bowering, however, did not inform his school of the search and kept teaching until March 12, when spring break started. He was arrested three days later.

Bowering pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in February 2022, and last year was handed a 10-month conditional sentence followed by two years of probation.

The North Vancouver School District fired Bowering in February 2022 after a nearly year-long leave of absence.

He has now been barred for life from holding a teaching certificate in B.C.

Under the conditions of his probation, he remains barred from being alone with anyone under the age of 16 and has been included in the National Sex Offender Registry.