Teenager’s congenital heart failure

The suggestion that Alexander Harvey may have been a victim of abuse came to light two years ago this week when former teacher Paul Kelly, 64, and head teacher John Farrell, 73,were jailed for 10 years and five years respectively at Glasgow High Court after being found guilty of abuse said to have taken place at the former St Ninian’s school between 1979 and 1983.

Further allegations, not heard in court, had been made about physical and sexual abuse by other staff dating back to the 1960s into the 1970s.

As the ongoing Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry looks into the scale of the problem nationally, Falkland residents had expressed shock that St Ninian’s School, which closed in 1983, was the setting for any such acts.

According to one well-established Falkland businessman, some older residents had told him there were rumours as far back as 1960 about abuse at the school, but nobody did anything about it because the Christian Brotherhood was seen as “untouchable” in those days.

However, research by Falkland Fife councillor David MacDiarmid also suggested there was a more rational explanation for Harvey’s death.

Having tracked down a copy of Harvey’s death certificate, it states that the cause of his passing was “congenitally abnormal heart valve: diffuse myocardial fibrosis” – or congenital heart failure.

According to a registrar’s report signed at the procurator fiscal’s office in Cupar on March 3, 1961, Harvey died “Shortly after having engaged in a boxing match under supervision at said orphanage.

“The boxing match was stopped immediately on the deceased complaining of being tired,” the report added.

The grave marker of Alexander Harvey.