A headteacher who kept a stash of pornography on her school iPhone, stole £350 from the PTA collection box to pay her mortgage and doctored SAT results has been banned from the profession for life.

Catharine Jones, 42, of Oldham, was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute by a panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency earlier this month.

The panel considered allegations that Ms Jones had failed to maintain appropriate professional standards while working as the headteacher at Stoneleigh Academy, a primary school in Oldham, from September 2012 until May 2016.

She was promoted from her role as history teacher at the school, which is now called Willowpark Academy, to head in September 2012.

Catharine Jones (pictured) has been banned for life from teaching after being found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by a panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency

In May 2016, two colleagues reported concerns about Ms Jones' behaviour and she was suspended.

An investigation revealed a string of misconduct offences including recording and storing pornography on her school iPhone and asked a junior staff member to transfer the images to her laptop.

The panel heard when she was given a new iPhone for work purposes in June 2015, she asked an IT apprentice to back up her previous phone's images to her laptop.

The staff member said that 'when backing up the device, he had seen images of an explicit sexual nature.'

Two other staff members reported seeing 'images of explicit sexual acts' and 'explicit sexual activity.'

Ms Jones also used the phone to badmouth teachers, texting a colleague 'personal information about members of staff and inappropriate and derogatory comments.'

She also posted jokes in poor taste and vulgar comments on her Facebook page, along with strong personal and political opinions, while making it clear she was a headteacher.

The panel also heard from witnesses who backed up allegations that she took £350 from a PTA collection box to help pay her mortgage and 'cheated' in national exams.

One witness said that she had collected money from a fair for the PTA, amounting to between £800 and £900 in June 2013.

It was taken to Ms Jones' office and locked in a cupboard.

The witness said that a day or so later, Ms Jones told her she had taken £350 to contribute towards her mortgage.

Ms Jones told her that she would repay it when her wages were paid later that month.

But the witness said it wasn't – and she asked for it to be paid around 18 months to two years later so she could buy items needed for a school Christmas fair.

The panel considered allegations that Ms Jones had failed to maintain appropriate professional standards while working as the headteacher at Stoneleigh Academy (pictured), a primary school in Oldham, from September 2012 until May 2016

She said Ms Jones replied that she would 'sort it' but then said she didn't have the money and instead provided the witness with the Academy's credit card to make the necessary purchases.

The panel also heard that Ms Jones allowed friends and family to attend trips, including one or more trips to Manchester United Football Ground and games, paid for with Academy funds.

The panel also heard that Ms Jones failed to put proper safeguarding practices, child protection and administration of financial and educational resources in place.

The TRA panel in Coventry also concluded she had altered pupils' marks in the SATs exams and used other dishonest methods to improve the results.

Ms Jones, from Oldham, did not attend the hearing, held between June 5 and 7.

Decision maker Alan Meyrick, for the Education Secretary, said he considered the panel's comments and banned Ms Jones from the profession for life.

'These behaviours include serious dishonesty - theft of school resources and cheating in national exams,' the panel had concluded.

'Cheating in this way undermines the integrity of national examinations and seriously undermines public confidence in the examination system.'

Mr Meyrick said: These elements are the two elements of dishonesty, concerning the PTA funds and the school's money, the exam misconduct and the lack of insight or remorse.

'I consider therefore that allowing for no review period is required to satisfy the maintenance of public confidence in the profession.

'This means that Ms Catherine Jones is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England.

'Furthermore, in view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against her, I have decided that Ms Catherine Jones shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of her eligibility to teach.'