A physics teacher has been banned from the classroom for life after travelling abroad to marry a 13-year-old girl.

A Teaching Regulation Authority panel heard that during a summer break whilst working at the London Nautical School Joshim Nur, then 22, travelled to Bangladesh and married the girl and had a sexual relationship with her.

He claimed he thought the girl was 18 but the panel sitting in Coventry saw a statement from the girl who said she had written to the teacher before their marriage and told him her age.

Now Nur, 34, has been been banned from teaching for life. The panel ruled that he engaged in a relationship with the girl between August 2006 and April 2009 in circumstances when he should have known she was aged under 16.

The panel heard how the girl had been the subject of a video recording taken by Nur's father in which she confirmed her age - and that she believed Nur had seen the video.

The panel said she was consistent in her account in her initial complaint, police interview and the TRA proceedings - and they found her evidence to be compelling and credible.