British-Bangladeshi teacher jailed for making deepfake images of schoolgirls

A British-Bangladeshi teacher has been sentenced to six years in prison by a UK court for secretly filming schoolgirls in sexually intrusive ways and creating explicit deepfake images of them using artificial intelligence (AI).

Abusali Rahman, 37, who lives in Salford, Greater Manchester, was sentenced by Bolton Crown Court after pleading guilty to 21 sexual offences against children.

Court proceedings revealed that Rahman had worked as a part-time English teacher at seven secondary schools across Bury, Bolton and Salford. Between December 2023 and June 2025, he targeted at least 13 female students aged between 13 and 16.

Initially, Rahman collected photographs of students from the internet and used AI technology to create and share sexually explicit deepfake images. He later began secretly filming girls beneath their clothing, a practice known as upskirting, on school premises. He reportedly concealed an iPhone in his shirt's breast pocket to record students as they climbed stairs or during unguarded moments in classrooms.

The case came to light in June 2025 when a parent, while scrolling through the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, found an image of their daughter in her school uniform that had been combined with highly explicit sexual material. The parent immediately reported the matter to Greater Manchester Police, whose Online Child Abuse Investigation Team launched an investigation.

Investigators traced Rahman through the X account and arrested him, seizing his laptop and mobile phone. Forensic examinations of the devices uncovered hundreds of explicit videos and images secretly recorded in school corridors, classrooms and other areas of school premises. Investigators also found numerous deepfake images in which the faces of female students had been superimposed onto pornographic scenes.

The investigation further revealed that Rahman had maintained detailed personal information, including students' names and addresses, to locate their social media profiles. In May 2025, he had even created an online advertisement offering to sell the collected images and videos for a one-off payment of £20 through PayPal.

Alexandra Mann, senior crown prosecutor at the UK's Crown Prosecution Service, said Rahman had grossly abused his position as a teacher.

“He secretly photographed children without their knowledge in the very place where they should have felt safest. He created and distributed sexually explicit deepfake images of his students, representing a profound breach of trust. The misuse of emerging technology in this way is a serious crime,” she said.

Documents presented to the court showed that Rahman had searched on his phone for information on “how to secretly record videos without getting caught” and “where to buy spy cameras”. He had also researched possible legal strategies to protect himself in the event of being arrested for such offences.