My teacher abused me at school with links to royalty
A FORMER pupil at one of Scotland’s top private schools has waived his anonymity to highlight sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a teacher.
The 37-year-old management consultant was 12 when English master Derek Jones abused him in the pupils’ dorm at Aberlour House – the junior school attached to Gordonstoun, where Prince Charles was a pupil.
Although Jones was sacked and a police investigation launched, the case did not go to court.
Jones is now dead, but his victim was shocked to learn he was able to find work in another school after his sacking in 1990.
Now John Findlay has spoken publicly about the horrific abuse and his regret that the teacher was not punished properly.
He spoke out weeks after another former pupil at the school – known only as ‘Kate’ – told of her alleged rape at the hands of another teacher on a camping trip in 1990. In 2013 a court case was mounted against the teacher but it collapsed due to lack of corroboration.
Aberlour House, in Moray, was a prep school for Gordonstoun, where Prince Philip was also a pupil, and was taken over by it in 2004.
Mr Findlay said Jones assaulted him after giving him painkillers for a rugby injury. He said the teacher touched him under the bed covers and took inappropriate photos.
Later, when he and a fellow pupil tried to confront Jones about it, he said the boy must have been hallucinating as a result of the pills.
Mr Findlay said: ‘Quite why a 12- year- old boy would have imagined something as twisted as that happening I’ve got no idea.’
He later told his parents, who spoke to the headmaster, who believed the boy and sacked Jones.
According to the victim’s father, Andrew, they were encouraged not to seek a prosecution as going into a witness box could damage his son. In return, he said, the school pledged to ensure Jones never taught again.
Now Mr Findlay says the teacher did work again – in England. He is angry Jones did not face charges in 1990 and regrets not pressing for a prosecution.
He added: ‘I feel sick now thinking about it – a massive blow. Even though I was only 12, I regret that deeply.’
Mr Findlay, who went on to Gordonstoun, says his schooling suffered badly as a result of the abuse.
He left having failed his A-levels, didn’t go to university and later fell into drug use and alcoholism. He has since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, which he believes was caused by the assault.
Gordonstoun said it was ‘very sad and sorry that John had this traumatic experience at Aberlour House’. The school has written to ex- students asking that anyone with evidence or allegations of criminal behaviour contact the police. It pledged to do all it could to help the investigations.