Now abuse inquiry will investigate elite public schools
SOME of Scotland’s top private schools are to be investigated by the national inquiry into child abuse next year.
Gordonstoun – Prince Charles’s former school – and Fettes College, where Tony Blair was a pupil, will feature in the statutory probe.
Also to be investigated from next summer are Merchiston Castle and Loretto, Scotland’s oldest boarding school.
Lady Smith, chairman of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI), said: ‘In 2020, we plan to progress to case study hearings in relation to our investigations into abuse in boarding schools.
‘We are interested in hearing from anyone about their experiences in boarding schools, particularly people who may have more recent experiences of having attended one of the schools currently under wider investigation from the 1980s up to December 2014.
‘I would encourage anyone who has evidence to offer in relation to any of the investigations listed on our website to get in touch. We want to hear from you.
‘I know that some people have already made a report to the police or to other agencies/ persons and may have been involved in other investigations. That does not matter – please also talk to us.’
Fettes College in Edinburgh has said previously that it ‘will assist fully’ with the inquiry.
In 2013, James Rainy Brown, 75, a teacher at Merchiston Castle in Edinburgh for 52 years, committed suicide after learning police were investigating claims of ‘inappropriate conduct’ towards pupils.
The now-closed Keil School in Dumbarton is also being investigated by the inquiry.
Morrison’s Academy in Crieff, Perthshire, where Trainspotting actor Ewan McGregor was a pupil, features in the inquiry, relating to the period when it was a boarding school.
Queen Victoria School, the military boarding school in Dunblane, Perthshire – the patron of which is the Duke of Edinburgh – will also be part of the probe. In June, the inquiry began hearings which focused on child care establishments run by male religious orders – set to conclude in late 2019.
The next phase, which will examine the abuse of children sent abroad as part of child migration programmes, will begin at the end of this year.
Abuse, for the purpose of the inquiry, is defined as ‘primarily physical abuse and sexual abuse, with associated psychological and emotional abuse’.
The SCAI has examined allegations of abuse at institutions run by religious orders, and charities including Barnardo’s.
The probe, which is exploring claims of institutional abuse in living memory, will publish its final findings ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’. Meanwhile, the latest figures show the cost of the inquiry had risen to £23.2million by the end of June this year, up from £15.7million in June 2018.
The SCAI’s witness support team can be contacted on 0800 0929 300, or emailed at talktous@childabuseinquiry.scot.
It can also be contacted by post at SCAI, PO Box 24085, Edinburgh EH7 9EA.