Pupils tried to escape school

Passing through the historic Fife town of Falkland, it seems an unlikely setting for the biggest abuse inquiry carried out by Police Scotland to date.

St Ninian’s was tucked away from the wider community, among woodland about half a mile from the village.

Brothers would take boys to Sunday mass in the Chapel Royal at Falkland Palace, but pupils were otherwise only seen trying to run away.

One resident, who lived in Falkland when the school was in operation, said: “They used to go to the church in the palace. The Brothers would be with them.

“They just looked like normal boys. I don’t think anybody had suspicions, because if anybody did have suspicions they would have done something about it.

“Boys would try to run away. You would see them, or people would say one of the boys had tried to escape.”

The full horror of what was going on behind the thick brick walls of the imposing G othic mansion was not revealed until the story hit the newspapers.

“When this appeared in the newspapers, people were horrified,” said the resident, who asked to remain anonymous.

“Everybody in the village is upset about the whole thing because it’s not nice to have something like that going on where you are living.

“I suppose everybody is thinking ‘why did I not realise and do something about it?’

“Nobody wants that to happen to a child, or to anybody.”