EXCLUSIVE: Teacher suspended after showing pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed during RE lesson at West Yorkshire school nearly two years ago has a new identity but is STILL in hiding, his family reveals

• Family says teacher is still in hiding two years after showing pupils cartoon 
• Teacher and partner changed their mobile numbers and are not on social media 
• Sources refused to reveal if he still remains in the teaching profession 

A teacher who feared for his life after showing pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed during an RE lesson has been given a new identity but still remains in hiding almost two years later, MailOnline can reveal.

The teacher, who is in his late 20s showed the controversial image to children at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire in March 2021, sparking days of heated protests by parents and activists at the school gates.

He was immediately forced to flee his housing association home in Batley with his partner and four young children and since then, has been living in a secret location with them outside the Yorkshire area and provided with a new identity.

A teacher who feared for his life after showing pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed during an RE lesson has been given a new identity but still remains in hiding almost two years later. Pictured: Protesters outside Batley Grammar School in March 2021

The teacher, who is in his late 20s showed the controversial image to children at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire in March 2021. Protesters are pictured outside the school

A family source told MailOnline: ‘He’s living far away from the Batley area and has been given a new identity. He’s slowly trying to rebuild his life, but it’s not been easy.

‘The whole family has gone through a very difficult time. He got into a lot of trouble for what happened, and it could have cost him his life. It’s better that he’s out of this area and the less people know, the better.’

The family source refused to reveal if the teacher, who was head of RE at Batley Grammar, remains in the teaching profession. 

Yunus Lunat, a prominent local lawyer who acted as spokesman for Muslim parents at the time of the incident said: ‘The teacher is leading a new life under another identity somewhere far from here. But even if he was to come back to Batley, I can assure you that his life would not be in danger.

‘We’ve all moved on, everything is calm and has been settled after the initial furore. It’s a shame that the teacher concerned did not have the confidence to allow a mediated return to work. That is what the community wanted to achieve but that got drowned out by the media and political frenzy.’

Showing images of the Prophet Mohammed is strictly forbidden in Islam.

What further incensed many Muslim parents and pupils was that the image shown in the class was taken from the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which was targeted in a 2015 deadly mass shooting after publishing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.

A former neighbour of the teacher in Batley said: ‘He was a wonderful, caring man and they were a lovely family. We miss them a lot because they were a big part of this community.

‘He used to send all of his Muslim neighbours Eid cards and would celebrate the festival with us. That’s what makes this so said because he was very considerate towards our culture and faith. There is no way he would have deliberately wanted to offend Muslims.’

The neighbour revealed that since the incident she has been unable to speak to the teacher or his partner because their mobile numbers have changed and they are no longer on social media.

He was immediately forced to flee his housing association home in Batley with his partner and four young children and since then, has been living in a secret location with them outside the Yorkshire area and provided with a new identity. Pictured: Batley Grammar School

The family source refused to reveal if the teacher, who was head of RE at Batley Grammar, remains in the teaching profession. Pictured: People gather outside the gates of Batley Grammar School in March 2021

After initially showing the cartoon in class, the teacher was suspended from his job but in May 2021 he was cleared following an independent external investigation of causing deliberate offence and told he could have his job back.

Dr Yasmin Zia, a governor at Batley Grammar School said: ‘He didn’t want to come back and is no longer at the school. We don’t have any contact with him, don’t know where he is but from our understanding, he is living under another name somewhere in the UK.’

Representatives of the Muslim community in Batley insisted that the matter had been resolved but they could understand the teacher’s motives for leaving the area and acquiring a new identity.

Akooji Baadat, an official from Batley’s Snowdon Street Mosque said: ‘Both sides have learnt lessons from this painful incident. The community has forgiven this teacher, we’ve got nothing against him, and he has nothing to worry about if he was to return to Batley.

‘But when something like this happens there’s always a danger of retaliation. Things have cooled down, we’ve all moved on and the teacher does not need to live in fear, but you can never tell.’

Memories of the Batley incident have been revived recently in the area after it emerged last week that four boys at a school in nearby Wakefield were suspended for ‘accidentally’ dropping a copy of the Quran.

West Yorkshire police recorded a ‘hate incident’ at Kettlethorpe High School after pupils caused ‘slight damage’ to a copy of the Quran when it fell on the floor.

A boy, who is 14 and autistic, was told by friends to bring in a copy of the holy book as a forfeit for losing at the video game Call Of Duty.

Officers investigating the incident found there had been only ‘minor damage’ to the Quran during the prank and that no crime had been committed. It was recorded as a ‘non-crime hate incident’, a designation the police use to record incidents that don’t meet the criminal threshold.

False rumours that the Quran had been burnt or destroyed prompted concern among Muslim parents and community leaders, who discussed the incident with police and the headmaster at a hastily arranged meeting at the local mosque.

In a video shared widely on social media, the mother of the 14-year-old was filmed apologising to members of the local community for the damage as she revealed he has been left ‘petrified’ by death threats.

She said: ‘He didn’t have any malicious intent, but he’s a very, very silly 14-year-old boy.’

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