The naming of a retired Scottish teacher accused of sexually assaulting pupils at Fettes College and Edinburgh Academy in the 70s has once again highlighted the helplessness victims feel when their attacker holds a position of power.
The 82-year-old is said to have previously confessed to being attracted to young boys and faces complaints here and in South Africa where he lives, but despite multiple allegations at the time, his employers’ reputations were prioritised over justice, and he was simply moved on.
Although identified by Ian Blackford MP in the House of Commons this week, he is still shielded by an order issued as part of the Child Abuse Inquiry to ban identification of people accused, but not convicted.
The times, places and circumstances of the allegations against him are different, but his victims’ stories will feel familiar to many of those victims who came forward as part of the various whistleblowing inquiries in Edinburgh, where no one has been brought to justice for the physical and psychological abuses they suffered at the hands of immoral officials. Victims were not believed, and when they were, too often the result was not police involvement, but a reshuffling of rotas until the victims or perpetrators were out the system.
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