Teacher ‘never felt sex abuse at school would be uncovered’
A CONVICTED paedophile and teacher who abused boys at the boarding school where he worked felt he would never be caught.
William Bain, a former physics teacher and housemaster at Keil School in Dumbarton, was jailed in 2016 after admitting sexually abusing five boys between 1989 and 1995.
He admitted to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) yesterday that he had not been fit to be a teacher.
The SCAI heard Bain had been investigated by the headteacher of Keil in the early 1990s after a complaint was made by the parents of a boy he had abused but no action was taken. Bain also told the inquiry he believed his colleagues would have been suspicious of his behaviour.
He said that if stricter child protection measures, including proper record-keeping, had been in place then he would ‘probably’ have been stopped from abusing his victims.
But asked by counsel to the inquiry Andrew Brown, QC, if there was any point where he felt his sexual abuse might be discovered, Bain said: ‘Not really, no.’
He added: ‘I did think that if I was discovered then some of what I had to say would prevent it being taken any further.’
The 68-year-old said that after he had got away with abusing his first victim, his offending continued for years. Bain plied boys as young as 11 with sweets and money, and took them on trips to the cinema, bowling alleys and fast-food restaurants as well as running activities such as mountaineering and chess clubs.
He said: ‘I was kind to them. Perhaps in some cases I had an ulterior motive. I suppose I was taking advantage of a situation that became possible.’
Mr Brown said: ‘You’re not a fit person to teach?’ Bain replied: ‘Absolutely and I am not allowed to. I shouldn’t have been allowed to teach prior to that.’
Bain was sentenced to six-and-ahalf years in jail after pleading guilty at the High Court in Glasgow to five charges of lewd and libidinous behaviour while employed as a teacher. At the hearing yesterday, he denied continuing his offending after 1995. He moved to several other teaching jobs after Keil School shut down in 2000.
Another former Keil teacher who was jailed for indecently assaulting a boy – the victim was not a pupil at the school – also gave evidence to the inquiry.
The 67-year-old, referred to only as Richard, had to be warned off contacting a teenager he had taught at Keil when he worked there between 1989 and 1991.
The boy left to attend another school but Richard repeatedly telephoned him and sent letters inviting him to stay, until the youngster’s new headteacher wrote to Richard ordering him to stop.
He was later jailed for abusing a boy between 1986 and 1988.
Another former teacher at Keil told the inquiry that he raised concerns about Bain to a housemaster in the early 1990s after seeing him hug a boy on the rugby pitch.
Former languages teacher Angus Dunn, now 56, said another boy also once asked him why Bain ‘lost interest in pupils as they grew older’.
But he said: ‘There was nothing on which I could nail anything. Yes, of course it raised an alarm bell.’
He admitted he failed to act after finding an allegation about Bain scribbled on the back of a child’s jotter book.
Mr Brown asked him if there was a culture of ‘omerta’ or silence at the boarding school.
Mr Dunn said: ‘You have already reminded me that I failed to act when I should have acted so maybe I’m part of that.’