A teacher has been banned from the classroom for life after filming a 12-year-old girl undressing in a leisure centre.

Anthony Gomes, 34, received a police caution as well as a lifetime teaching ban after he was caught filming the girl in a unisex changing room in Putney Leisure Centre on April 12, 2016.

The child saw Gomes filming with a mobile phone from under the partition in the changing rooms and quickly reported the incident to her mother.

When confronted, he denied the allegation, and denied it further in his original interview with police.

He said he had a new phone and had thrown away his old one because he was annoyed about the mother’s accusation.

In his second police interview, Gomes admitted filming the young girl, claiming he was not aware she was a child and “was suffering from a period of ill health”.

He accepted a police caution for outraging public decency.

After the incident, he was banned from teaching by a professional conduct panel which decided his actions “involved harmful behaviour towards a child”.

The panel also decided there was no public interest in identifying the Kent school where Gomes worked between September 2011 and August 2016.

In its supporting statement, the panel said: “The panel is not satisfied that Mr Gomes has demonstrated sufficient insight or remorse and therefore continues to present a risk of harm to pupils.

“In this case the panel has found the allegations proven and found that those proven facts amount to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.

“The panel has made a recommendation to the Secretary of State that Mr Gomes should be the subject of a prohibition order, with no provision for a review period.”