Teacher who pointed slug gun and claimed military credentials loses registration

Tuesday, 23 June 2026

The Teaching Council has cancelled the teaching registration of Marlborough Boys’ College physics teacher ‘Commander’ Mike Li.

The decision comes after a Stuff investigation revealed a video of Li pointing a slug gun in a classroom at New Plymouth Boys’ High School, and raised questions about his claimed military credentials.

Marlborough Boys’ had earlier said Li had voluntarily agreed to stand down while the Teaching Council investigated.

A teacher who pointed a slug gun in a classroom and whose military credentials and title were questioned by experts can no longer teach.

The Teaching Council has confirmed it has cancelled the teaching registration of Marlborough Boys’ College physics teacher ‘Commander’ Mike Li after an investigation.

In a statement on Monday, the watchdog’s acting chair Patrick Walsh said the decision to cancel Li’s registration had been made “under the Council’s statutory responsibilities after consideration of all relevant information before it”.

“The Governing Council was satisfied on reasonable grounds that Mr Li no longer met the statutory requirements for registration.”

Walsh said the decision was made under Schedule 3 of the Education and Training Act 2020, which covers cancelling teacher’s registrations under a range of reasons, including whether the teacher is of good character, satisfactorily trained or ‘fit to be a teacher’.

“The Teaching Council’s role is to regulate the teaching profession in the public interest, including helping to maintain confidence in the safety, quality, and integrity of the profession.”

In May, the Council told Stuff it was “urgently gathering and assessing information” after Stuff sent it a video of Li pointing a slug gun in a classroom - an incident understood to date back about three years to his time teaching at New Plymouth Boys’ High School - and warning students not to be late “otherwise bad stuff happens”.

It said it was also looking into “the issues highlighted in the Stuff article” - a reference to Li’s disputed military claims reported in a Stuff investigation.

One student who was in the classroom on the day of the slug gun incident said “it was just shocking to have that happen inside a school to be honest, it didn't feel safe,” but another told Stuff “it was very obvious … he was making a joke. No one in the classroom at the time felt unsafe as far as I could tell looking around, everyone was laughing and joking…. Yes, he was a strict teacher but it made him a really good one and he was very inspirational to me”.

New Plymouth Boys’ principal Sam Moore previously told Stuff the school was aware of the slug gun video and of concerns about Li’s military credentials and “both concerns were taken seriously and addressed directly at the time”. Moore said the slug gun was a school gun used during science lessons to demonstrate the ballistic pendulum.

Li uses the honorific Commander and drives a Bentley with a personalised CDR LI number plate.

Stuff previously reported that multiple past and present students said he had asked them to call him ‘Commander’ and told them stories of his military history in the classroom.

He has worn an MBE, Military Medal, a Gulf War Medal with two clasps and a Mention in Dispatches, along with a Royal Marines beret, submariners’ badges, and one veteran claimed Li had told him he had commanded a nuclear submarine.

However, his entitlement to some of the medals have been questioned by military veterans and medal experts, including Ian Martyn, who did extensive research into the medals Li wore.

“If all this is true, he’s probably one of the greatest modern-day [war heroes],” Martyn told Stuff during our investigation.

The UK Ministry of Defence said there were no past or present Royal Navy personnel who held that combination of medals, according to their records.

Marlborough Boys’ had earlier said Li had voluntarily agreed to stand down while the Teaching Council investigated.

Stuff approached Li and New Plymouth Boys’ High head Sam Moore for comment but had not received responses before deadline.

Marlborough Boys’ College acting board chair Tim Burfoot said the board would need time to consider any comment.