Teacher’s abuse led to suicide attempt, says alleged victim
AMAN tortured over an alleged campaign of sexual abuse by his former teacher says he tried to take his own life.
The complainant, referred to as ‘David’ (not his real name), is one of more than 20 people who have levelled allegations against former Formby High School teacher Ian Farquharson, who served as head of lower school.
According to inquest records, Farquharson killed himself in 1992 after being “summoned to the head teacher’s office” over a “complaint” from the mother of a child.
That “complaint” came after David, now in his 40s, opened up to his mum about his horrific ordeal. He said: “It actually started when I was in junior school. Me and another girl were on a visit to Formby High School. We were in the staff room and got split up, and he started stroking my leg, so he started straight away.
“When I started at the high school he started taking me out of lessons, but he would ply me with water and drinks so I would need the toilet. Then he would follow me to the toilet and start touching me all the time, this was around two or three times a week over the space of two years.”
David said the abuse included the most serious forms of sexual assault, including an allegation of what would now be treated as attempted rape.
While David says he was not overtly threatened by Farquharson to keep quiet, he said the dad-of-two kept a novelty Filofax on his desk with fake human hands reaching out from within to make it look as if someone had been trapped inside.
David said Farquharson would say: “That is what happens to people who tell tales about me.”
For the first two years of his high school life David kept the abuse to himself, and may have been considered more vulnerable due to difficulties at home related to his parents separating.
But the abuse finally ended when David ran out of school and told his mum what was happening, in May 1992. That same day, Farquharson got into his car, drove to an isolated spot near Mold in North Wales, and killed himself using the carbon monoxide from his car exhaust.
According to a report into his inquest in July that year, Farquharson had returned from school to his home in Ashdale Close, Formby, looking agitated according to a neighbour, before driving away. The court heard he had been summoned to the headteacher’s study and an investigation into his conduct had been launched by education chiefs.
Despite the trauma of the previous two years, David says he was left to get on with his life by his school and local authority without any counselling. With Farquharson dead, no formal police enquiry took place.
David said he initially felt a complex form of guilt when Farquharson died, but says he now believes it was simply an attempt to evade justice and accountability.
The scars of those experiences ran deep, and David’s mental state deteriorated in the years that followed. He said: “To start with I just didn’t really understand it. It was after I hit puberty, and when I was around 16 or 17, I started acting out, going out drinking.
“When I got a bit older I started hurting myself, I cut my wrists, I cut myself with Stanley knives. I have got scars all up my arms and chest. Everybody knew about it. I tried to kill myself, but I woke up stuck to a laminate floor with my own blood.”
Thankfully David said he managed to begin addressing his traumatic youth in around 2008, and slowly built himself a life. He is now married with children of his own.
He began the search for closure in 2016, prompted by reports about the predatory paedophile and former football coach Barry Bennell, who is serving a 34-year sentence for sexually abusing young boys. However the damage caused by Farquharson remains. David said: “It still affects me. I will still break down and cry when I think about it or talk about it.”
David is now one of 22 complainants in the process of launching a case against Sefton Council relating to alleged abuse by Farquharson that allegedly took place between around 1975 and his death in 1992.
Solicitor Katherine Yates, of Andrew Grove and Co Solicitors, is acting for the men but is urging anyone else who may have been affected to come forward. She said those who were allegedly “targeted by Mr Farquharson feel their lives have been ruined by the abuse they suffered at his hands”.
She said: “It appears that no counselling or support was offered at the time the abuse came to light and investigations are now taking place to ascertain what was known by the school and the local authority at the time of Mr Farquharson’s death.
“I cannot help but think that the severe psychological and psychiatric damage suffered by my clients could have been lessened if appropriate support had been provided when the abuse was first discovered.
“It appears that rather than offering counselling and support to the child victims a memorial plaque was placed in the school grounds which was unveiled with much ceremony and caused considerable further upset to the children concerned.”
A spokesman for Sefton Council said it could not comment on the case.
Ms Yates urged anyone who was affected to contact her firm, whether or not they have made a claim before, and stressed the case is being pursued on a no-win-no-fee basis. Anyone seeking more information can contact Katherine Yates or Charlotte Denley on 01223 367133 or by email at katherine@andrewgroveandco.com or charlotte@andrewgroveandco.com.