Council chiefs who blew the whistle on a former Bath headteacher who looked at gay porn in his office say they have "very strong" systems in place to detect such abuse.

Onetime Combe Down Primary head Paul Buckley quit his job three years ago and says he has no intention of returning to the profession.

Last week he was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by the body which regulates teaching standards, the General Teaching Council, which also ruled he should never have anything to do with school finances again.

That stipulation followed evidence at a professional conduct hearing that he failed to stick to Bath and North East Somerset Council’s accounting rules over a period of six years.

The 61-year-old was head at the school for 16 years, but suddenly resigned in June 2006, shortly after being cautioned by police after an incident in which he assaulted his male partner, Vernon Harman.

Mr Buckley, who is a former chairman of the Bath Conservative Association, admitted accessing inappropriate websites on his school laptop whilst at home, viewing inappropriate images on his PC while in school, attempting to access websites blocked by the South West Grid for Learning intranet service and attempting to wipe clean all activities on his laptop and PC.

He also admitted:

* buying a laptop and a PC for personal use through official school accounts, resulting in a failure to ensure that VAT had been properly accounted for and so obtaining goods at a preferential or reduced cost.

* buying seven personal computers, five monitors and one printer that could not be accounted for.

* failing to maintain a proper inventory of equipment

* failing to implement internal audit recommendations for improving school financial procedures

* failing to ensure appropriate accounting standards were in place for the school’s official and unofficial funds.

He was found guilty of not undertaking monthly reconciliations of the school fund.

Other allegations, including that he inappropriately used school funds to pay for lunches, flowers and a theatre trip for staff were not upheld by the committee.

In a statement, B&NES said it had contacted the police as soon as the allegations were brought to its attention.

"The council referred the situation to the police at an early stage and sought advice. The police considered that no further action was necessary and the issues were dealt with internally as part of the council's disciplinary process.

"Policies and procedures are reviewed by the council following any investigation. In this particular case, the council found no need to change policies and procedures. "However, new financial management standards are now required within schools and these highlight the need for full compliance with our internal regulations. With regard to accessing inappropriate material using school computers, the council has very strong systems in place to prevent such access and to detect it where it does occur.

"This is part of our work on e-safety which we do in partnership with the South West Grid for Learning which operates across 15 of the 16 south west local authorities."

The GTC ruled that Mr Buckley was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and that his behaviour involved a breach of the standards of propriety expected of the profession.

It said his failure to comply with school and local authority financial and accounting procedures “was not a single incident or a lapse over a short period of time but a sustained failure over six years.”

The GTC added: “The committee have also noted that Mr Buckley personally benefited from his failure to pay VAT on the purchase of the IT equipment. Although this may have been a small sum of money, this constitutes a lapse in integrity which falls short of the standards of behaviour that are expected of teachers.

“The committee has also found that Mr Buckley’s behaviour fell below the standards to be expected of a teacher in respect of him using school equipment to repeatedly access pornography on the internet. Mr Buckley admitted that he knew his actions were in breach of the standard expected of teachers but nevertheless continued to behave in this manner.”

Mr Buckley is now seeking to be deregistered from the GTC’s list, but the committee imposed an order that he should have no involvement with school finances.

At the hearing it was revealed that Mr Buckley had been caught by a colleague looking at porn websites, including one featuring men dressed as soldiers.

He had denied looking at the indecent images while in the presence of any pupils or children.

Yusuf Segovia, presenting the case for the GTC, said that Mr Buckley had always admitted to viewing the images.

He said: "He also admits to accessing inappropriate websites on his school laptop while at home.

In relation to Mr Buckley looking at images on his PC at school, Mr Segovia said: "I assume that it is in school time and that he should be concentrating on his role within the school."

"One of the issues is that although the laptop was used at home, there is always the risk that someone will come into contact with that material.

"This laptop and PC could be recalled by the school at any time."

Naina Patel, counsel for Mr Buckley, said: "It is all legal, although inappropriate, adult consensual images.

"The PC in question was in Mr Buckley's office and was not in the vicinity of children.

"There is a difference between looking at images like this in the classroom in front of children than viewing them in a room separate from that."

Ms Patel said that Mr Buckley had had enough of teaching and did intend to teach again.

She said: "He has no intention of going back to teaching either as head or any other role."

It was not revealed during the hearing who discovered Mr Buckley's transgressions.

Mr Buckley had been arrested and cautioned for assault not long before he decided to leave his post.

He was for a few months chairman of the city's Conservative association, but stood down as soon as he discovered the GTC would be investigating his conduct.

A former chair of governors at Combe Down Primary School, Leila Wishart, said Mr Buckley had been an "inspirational teacher."

She said: "I fully accept the verdict of the GTC. However, let us not forget that Paul Buckley was an inspirational teacher who provided an excellent education to generations of Combe Down School pupils. Also, we need to remember that Paul Buckley retains his professional licence, because none of what he did put any of the school's children at risk."

Mr Buckley has been unavailable for comment.