Former Supply Teacher Jailed Six Years for Upskirting Pupils and Creating AI Fake Images
A 37-year-old former supply teacher from Salford has been sentenced to six years in prison after secretly taking more than 100 upskirt photographs of schoolgirls and using artificial intelligence to turn their social media pictures into sexualised fake images.
Abusali Rahman, who qualified as a teacher in July 2023 after studying at Manchester Metropolitan University, worked across 25 schools in north-west England. Bolton Crown Court heard he concealed an iPhone in his top pocket to secretly film pupils during lessons and followed girls up staircases to capture upskirt images. In total, 15 girls aged 13 to 16 were targeted across seven secondary schools in Bolton, Bury and Salford; police have identified 12 of them.
He was caught after the mother of one victim came across an image of her daughter in school uniform placed alongside graphic sexual content while scrolling on X. Investigators later found Rahman had used pupils’ names and addresses to track down their social media profiles, researched how to avoid being caught and where to buy spy cameras, and searched for possible legal defences for teachers who create images of children. Some of the doctored images were posted to an account with around 1,000 followers.
Prosecutor Tom Farr told the court that officers recovered child sexual abuse material including 226 category C images, some shot in classrooms and corridors. Rahman pleaded guilty in May to 21 offences, including 12 counts of taking indecent photographs of children, four of publishing obscene material, three of making indecent images, one of distributing an indecent image, and one upskirting offence; he made no comment in his police interview. Defending him, Emma Kehoe told the court it was not the prosecution’s case that Rahman had become a teacher specifically to target schoolgirls: “He found himself out of control and unable to stop.”
Sentencing Rahman, Judge Kenderik Horne said his role as a teacher had given him access to pupils and classrooms: “You abused that trust.” Rahman was also placed on the sex offenders register and handed a 20-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order barring him from working in schools.
Senior crown prosecutor Alexandra Mann described the offending as a “gross breach of trust,” adding: “Abusali Rahman abused his position as a teacher to capture images of children without their knowledge in a school environment where they were entitled to feel safe.” Detective Constable Lisa McGaffin of Greater Manchester Police, who led the investigation, said criminals were increasingly exploiting rapid advances in AI, warning that unregulated platforms made such offending harder for police to tackle.
Rahman was first arrested in June 2025 after parents raised concerns about pupils’ images circulating online, and again in December 2025 once police had gathered further evidence. Because some victims were sitting GCSE exams at the time, detectives left it to individual parents to decide whether to tell their children they had been targeted.
The case has reignited pressure on regulators and government over AI-generated abuse imagery. An NSPCC spokesperson said the offending had been “deeply distressing” for the families involved and called for stronger action from tech companies, government and Ofcom. Ofcom said tackling AI-generated child sexual abuse material was “one of our highest priorities,” noting it has investigated more than 100 platforms — including X and Telegram — under the Online Safety Act and issued fines totalling more than £7m against 11 providers. A government spokesperson said using AI to generate child abuse material was “abhorrent and illegal,” adding that creating or sharing tools designed to produce such content is now itself a criminal offence carrying “hefty prison sentences.”
Source: BBC News