Victims to sue abuse rap school
FORMER pupils of Fettes College who allege they were physically and sexually abused are pursuing a private prosecution against the elite school.
At least two men who attended the junior school in Edinburgh are involved in the civil case after the Crown Office deemed it “not in the public interest” to extradite a former teacher from South Africa.
A letter to victims dated November 2020 said the case was likely to have been pursued had the accused lived in Scotland.
Laura Connor, of the Historic Abuse Unit at Thompsons Solicitors, said: “We are pursuing civil claims against the school on behalf of several survivors.”
A spokesman for Fettes said: “We would like to apologise to anyone who suffered abuse. We will co-operate fully with all relevant authorities.”
SIX gangsters whose lawyers claimed the men should walk free from jail because jurors had “made up their minds” about their guilt during a trial have lost their appeals.
Brian Ferguson, 38, Andrew Gallacher, 41, Robert Pickett, 54, Andrew Sinclair, 33, John Hardie, 36, and Peter Bain, 46, are serving prison sentences for conspiracy to murder.
They were convicted following proceedings at the High Court in Glasgow in May 2019.
Jurors heard how the men were associates of the Lyons criminal family and were found guilty of plotting attempts to kill five men linked to their rivals, the Daniel family.
Last month, lawyers for the men told the Court of Criminal Appeal that their clients should have their convictions quashed.
Lord Mulholland appointed his clerk to investigate the claims and he concluded there was nothing to substantiate the claims.
Advocate Brian McConnachie QC, for Bain, told judges that Lord Mulholland shouldn’t have allowed his clerk to investigate.
He said this was because the clerk lacked the necessary skills to properly investigate the claims.
Mr McConnachie said his client suffered a miscarriage of justice because of how the probe was handled.
However, in a written judgement issued yesterday, judges Lord Carloway, Lord Pentland and Lord Matthews rejected the appeals.
They concluded that Lord Mulholland acted appropriately in appointing his clerk to investigate the claim and that the staff member was suitably qualified to do the job.