The Department for Education is to review the case of a man who has been allowed to remain a teacher despite being cautioned for viewing indecent images of children.

Geoffrey Bettley, 36, was suspended from St Mary’s Catholic School in Menston, West Yorkshire, in December 2010 after police found nearly 200 child abuse images on his computer.

He accepted a police caution and was dismissed by the school following a disciplinary hearing in December 2011.

But a professional conduct panel then ruled that the RE teacher should be allowed to return to teaching after concluding he “does not represent a risk to children and young people”.

In its judgment, the National College of Teaching and Leadership professional conduct panel said the images viewed by Mr Bettley were “not at the most serious end” of the Copine scale – the rating system used to categorise the severity of images of child sex abuse – and there were “relatively few” on his computer.

His behaviour did not show a “deep-seated attitude which leads to harmful behaviour”, it ruled.

“Mr Bettley, does not, in the view of the panel, represent a risk to children and young people,” the panel said.

“Although the findings in this case are serious ones, for the reasons set out, I support the recommendation of the panel that a prohibition order should not be applied in this case.”

Mr Bettley is now free to apply for another teaching job.

Following the panel’s decision, the Department for Education said it would review the case.

A spokesperson said: “The Secretary of State does not make these decisions himself. They are made by an independent panel and reviewed by a senior official.

“We keep the process under review because of legal complexities and we are examining whether this case was handled correctly.”

Mr Bettley was employed at St Mary’s from September 2001 to December 2011.

He visited a website in March 2009 where he viewed six child abuse images, according to the panel’s ruling.

When his computer was seized by the police in December 2010, 143 images were found at level one of the Copine scale, which covers nudity or erotic posing.

A further 46 images considered to be at level three on the scale were found but had not been opened, the panel said.

Mr Bettley acknowledged that the images were of underage children and were child abuse images and admitted to police that he had accessed and viewed the images, the panel said.

He was cautioned for the offence of possessing an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child and placed on the sex offenders register for two years, according to the ruling.

A former colleague of the RE teacher told Sky News that she had been “really surprised” to hear what had happened. She said she had “no suspicions about him” and that he had “a good sense of humour”.

But she added that she did not think he should be allowed to return to teaching.

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