On the official GoFundMe page where his supporters have raised more than £116,000, the young father is known simply as “The Teacher”. Perhaps a better title might be “The Forgotten Teacher”.

Last week marked the fifth anniversary of an extraordinary – and shameful – episode in modern British history that saw this man, then a respected member of staff at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire, forced into hiding, fearing for his own life and for those of his children.

There, shockingly, he remains. Today he is living under a new identity, having fled not just the classroom, but his home, his town, his rugby club, his entire previous life. …

His crime? In 2021 he taught a Religious Studies lesson – one designed, ironically, to explore issues of blasphemy and free speech. One of the images he used to get pupils thinking and engaging was a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed wearing a turban containing a bomb. The cartoon had been published by the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, whose employees were massacred in 2015 for causing the “offence”. Showing images of Mohammed is forbidden in Islam.

Controversial? Well, the teacher’s bosses at Batley Grammar hadn’t considered it so. The lesson had been taught for the previous two years without any problems and had been approved by the school leadership team. Yet this time it caused a furore, with angry protests by parents at the school gates being stoked and encouraged by external activists.

As he was named locally and targeted by what can only be described as a mob, the teacher was suspended, and the school “unequivocally” apologised “for using a totally inappropriate resource”. It also promised to review the curriculum. Both the local council and the local Labour MP at the time, Tracy Brabin, welcomed the apology.

And yet in May 2021, the teacher himself was cleared of any wrongdoing, following an independent external investigation into whether he caused deliberate offence. He was, technically, free to return to his job.

But by then the damage had been done. The man was simply too terrified to return to the classroom – and who can blame him? His primary fear was that he risked meeting the same fate as French teacher Samuel Paty, 47, who was beheaded the year before after showing a cartoon of the Prophet to his pupils. His murderer, a Russian Muslim refugee armed with a 12-inch knife, had pounced on Mr Paty as he walked from the school on the outskirts of Paris. The killer cried “Allahu Akbar” as he cut his victim’s head off, and was eventually shot dead by police.

It was a horrific end, which has long stalked the Batley Grammar School teacher.

What has become of the man who, his supporters argue, did nothing wrong? In the immediate aftermath, having felt the need to vacate his home at speed, the teacher was living in temporary accommodation, his children sleeping on mattresses, missing their own schooling because of the domestic upheaval.

A source close to the family told the MoS that he continues to live in a secret location outside the Yorkshire area. He and his family have been provided with new identities. They may have beds now, but they still feel utterly abandoned and let down. Our source painted a pitiful picture of his life today, as another anniversary passes. “He’s doing his best but it’s still not easy for him. He’s struggling to make ends meet and is relying on friends and family to get by.” …

His mental health has continued to decline, as his plight has slipped out of public consciousness. The man appears to be trapped in a Catch 22 situation: he cannot go public and highlight the unfairness of his situation without exposing his family to further threat.

He wants to forget the horror; and yet our understanding is that he would like at least some of his old life back. There are those still trying to help, at least in a practical way. In the immediate aftermath, businessman and politician Paul Halloran, a family friend, launched the GoFundMe page.