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

The 47-year-old man was teaching at Nicholas Breakspear School in St Albans when a routine check on staff laptops revealed he had been accessing child pornography, a source has said.

The teacher – who cannot be named for legal reasons – 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.

Nicholas Breakspear headteacher 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.”