A teacher who sent explicit messages to a former pupil has been banned from the classroom – even though a teaching panel felt he could continue.

Facebook messages between Milton Keynes Academy teacher Dr Aldo Olivieri, 44, and a former pupil started when the woman – named only as Miss A – got in touch in October 2019 to apologise for her behaviour when she was a student, and said he was a great teacher.

At first, their messages were sporadic and about innocent topics like music and parenting, but around January 2020, they became flirtatious and “of a sexual nature”, the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) found.

The messages included phrases like “Oh I love it when a lady has a high sex drive,” “You got a nice rack to die for” and “Would love to have my face buried in those melons” – among even more sexually explicit examples.

Dr Olivieri was hauled in front of a TRA panel because his conduct breached the Creative Education Trust’s code of conduct and E-safety policy.

All members of staff are advised “not to communicate with… any current or past pupils” and “staff must not… attempt to initiate a relationship which is of a sexual nature, with a recent pupil”.

The panel heard Miss A had been at the school only two or three years previously, and was still friends with a current pupil he was teaching at the time.

The panellists recognised the messages were not an isolated incident and happened over a number of months, and Dr Olivieri knew his behaviour was “unprofessional”, as he mentioned it in some of the messages to Miss A.

A number of other pupils also saw the sexual messages when they were posted on social media and the school found the situation “very difficult” to manage – as parents got in touch to complain about what their children had seen.

While the panel agreed Dr Olivieri was guilty of unprofessional conduct, they did not recommend he be banned from teaching – hearing from staff how there had been no issues at the new school he has worked at since September 2020 and his rector that he was remorseful for his actions.

They said: “The panel was satisfied that Dr Olivieri has demonstrated meaningful insight and genuine remorse into the harmful conduct he undertook, including the effect it had on Miss A and the wider school community, how he had let that behaviour occur.

“Dr Olivieri was also able to evidence the tangible steps he has taken to make sure it would not happen again.

“In light of the above evidence, the panel considers the risk of repetition of such conduct in this case to be very low.”

However, Sarah Buxcey, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, disagreed with the panel’s recommendations, saying they had given “disproportionate weight” to Dr Olivieri’s references, adding: “In my view, it is necessary to impose a prohibition order in order to maintain public confidence in the profession.”

Dr Olivieri is now banned from teaching in any school, sixth form college or children’s home indefinitely – but he may apply for the order to be set aside after two years.