A science teacher has been suspended from a St Albans school following the alleged discovery of child porn on his school laptop.

The 47-year-old teacher, who lives in Letchworth, was teaching at Nicholas Breakspear School when a routine check on staff laptops revealed he had been accessing child pornography, a source told the Herts Advertiser.

The newspaper has chosen not to name the accused teacher for legal reasons.

The source, who remains anonymous, said that the teacher had reportedly been viewing the explicit material during his free lessons and lunch breaks.

They added that he had allegedly booked ‘a trip’ on the computer where he planned to ‘engage in sexual acts with children’.

The teacher left the school, based in Colney Heath Lane, abruptly earlier this year and parents received little explanation.

The source said: “I want this to come to light, it is unacceptable, parents were told he was away on sick leave and people deserve to know.”

Police confirmed that a 47 year old man from Letchworth had been arrested on June 2 on suspicion of making and possessing indecent images of children.

He has been questioned and release on police bail until December 18 pending further inquiries by officers from the Child Online Safeguarding Team.

Headteacher at Nicholas Breakspear Declan Linnane said: “I can confirm that this matter is currently being investigated by the relevant authorities with which the school are fully co-operating. We are unable to comment further at this stage.”

Another teacher who taught at the academy was arrested and then convicted of making and possessing indecent images of children in 2010.

He was caught after he handed in his laptop when retiring from teaching technology at the school.