A disgraced RE teacher, who was sacked for possessing indecent images of children on a computer, has been deemed fit to return to teaching by Education Secretary Michael Gove.

Geoffrey Bettley, 36, was dismissed from his ten-year career at St Mary’s Catholic School, Menston, after he accepted a police caution for the offences.

But Mr Gove has now supported a disciplinary panel’s recommendation that he does not pose a risk to children and that he should be able to resume his teaching career.

The National College of Teaching and Leadership professional conduct panel ruled that the child abuse images were at the lower end of seriousness and that Bettley, who had “shown remorse and victim empathy” did not pose a risk to children.

Backing that view, Mr Gove said: “I have considered this case and the need to be proportionate and also to act in the public interest.

“Although the findings in this case are serious ones, I support the recommendation of the panel that a prohibition order should not be applied in this case.”

But Conservative MP Philip Davies, whose Shipley constituency includes Menston, said: “This is a very worrying case and situation, and I suspect most parents would feel very uneasy about this man being able to continue teaching, given his past record.

“I think that in such cases there should be an automatic bar on people being able to teach again.”

The professional conduct panel heard that in September 2011, Bettley was cautioned by West Yorkshire Police for possessing an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child on December 6, 2010.

He was placed on the Sex Offender Register for two years.

The findings say that on March 11, 2009, he visited an internet page site and viewed six child abuse images.

When his computer was seized by the police, 143 images – assessed at the lowest, level one, involving nudity and/or erotic posing – were found and in addition a further 46 images at level three which had not been opened by Mr Bettley.

The panel said Bettley had viewed images on the site for “two to three years on and off”.

And in its ruling it stated: “Mr Bettley acknowledged that the images were of under age children and were child abuse images.

“He admitted to the police that he had accessed and viewed the images.”

Bettley, who joined St Mary’s in September 2001 from Yorkshire Martyrs Catholic School, Bradford, was suspended from his job on December 9, 2010, and dismissed a year later, following a disciplinary hearing.

The panel said that his actions “amounted to conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute”, adding: “The downloading of images of this nature is a serious matter.

“It may be right to say that the images actually seen by Mr Bettley were not at the most serious end of the scale but, nevertheless, embarking on the process of downloading such images may lead to the viewing of more serious images. More serious images at level three were in fact on the computer.”

It added that it did not consider that there was evidence here of a deep-seated attitude on the part of Bettley which leads to harmful behaviour, and that he has an excellent history, having been a teacher since 1999.

Jane Held, independent chairman of Leeds Safeguarding Children Board, said on behalf of St Mary’s: “The Board is clear that in Leeds we do not want to see any kind of behaviour that may put children or young people at risk in any setting or service, including schools.”

“It is a matter for an employer to weigh up the information gained whilst making those checks before deciding whether to employ an individual or not, taking into account the evidence available and the potential or actual risk that may pose for children.”