LONDON — A British schoolteacher who was suspended from his job in July for moonlighting as a porn star and stripper was allowed to return to the classroom.
Benedict Garrett, aka Johnny Anglais was given a slap on the wrists by the General Teaching council in Birmingham but warned that he can only keep his job if he refrains from his adult career for two years.
Garrett taught personal, social and health education at Beal High School in Ilford, in east London. In addition to appearing in hardcore films, Garret reportedly did stripping and lap dancing in clubs and worked as a naked butler in his spare time.
Although Garrett was reprimanded for his adult work, he maintained that nothing he had done was illegal and said that he was unembarrassed to talk about anything with his students as long as they asked in an appropriate manner.
He said he has taught “young people to be open-minded, respectful, tolerant of others” for more than four years.
Garrett says of himself on his website; “Now that my life has suddenly changed, I'm a man with a mission. That mission: to bring these teachings to the rest of the world and to unashamedly demonstrate the art of pleasure in the realms of fitness, sex and entertainment.”
At the hearing Garrett argued that teachers should be able to keep their professional and private lives separate and maintained that the standards for teachers is outdated.
“I believe that if the General Teaching Council was to agree that what I did undermines public trust and confidence in the teaching profession, I believe that this is a symptom of what I call an immature national attitude to sex and viewing sex as a legitimate form of enjoyment and entertainment,” Garrett said.
He insisted that that schools need to prepare children for the “real world” and adapt to the increasing availability of porn.
Garrett told the teacher’s panel, “'It is not going anywhere. Pornography is here to stay, the Internet is here to stay, social networking is here to stay.”