PRIMARY school teacher Simon Clannachan has appeared in court to face charges of making indecent images of children and possession of extreme animal porn.

The 40-year-old teacher at Kingsleigh Primary School in Bournemouth spoke only to confirm his personal details during a five-minute hearing before Bournemouth magistrates today.

Clannachan, of Richmond Park Avenue, Bournemouth faces 21 charges, 14 of which relate to making indecent images of children between March 28 2009 and March 26 this year.

The charges relate to a total of 236 images and to different levels of severity.

Images are graded from one to five with five being the most serious. Clannachan faces five grade one charges, three grade two, three grade three and three grade four.

He is also charged with seven counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image portraying a sexual act with an animal.

During the court appearance he gave no indication of plea but magistrates rejected jurisdiction and the case will be heard at Bournemouth Crown Court.

He was granted bail on the condition he does not enter Richmond Park Avenue, does not enter the grounds of Kingsleigh School without prior appointment and has no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.

Kingsleigh headteacher Richard Gower confirmed Clannachan has been suspended pending the outcome of police investigations.

In a letter sent home to parents he said there is no evidence that alleged offences involve children at the school or any direct offences against children.

He added: “The school acted immediately on being given the information and the individual has not been back since.

“A thorough multi-agency investigation has taken place involving the police, social services, the local authority, our human resources provider and, of course, the school.

“The school has robust safeguarding procedures in place and all staff are thoroughly vetted before they are employed and every three years - it was no different with this individual.”

Clannachan will appear at Bournemouth Crown Court on Monday July 1.