It’s been known for a long while that it can take the authorities in the UK several years to ban teachers who are paedophiles, for a variety of reasons.
Teacher's Pet
In the meantime, these teachers can continue to work in schools where the pupils are of a different age and sex to those whom they desire.
An example of such a situation is recorded in one of my previous posts – ‘Alex the Flirt’ - whose dabbling with female pupils having been discovered at one school is now conveniently working at another school: a boys’ boarding school in South London.
There are also details in this post of the character ‘Justin Rupert, the main character in my book ‘The Grim Rupert’. His headmaster at the time offered to get him a job at a famous boys’ independent school in the north of England, knowing full well that ‘Justin’ had committed sex offences against his female pupils.
‘Alex the Flirt’ and ‘Justin Rupert’ were teachers at the same boarding school. The teaching staff at the school all knew that the headmaster did not report these two men to the relevant authorities at the time, as indeed he failed to do with other teachers at the school who either preceded or followed these instances.
Such unacceptable behaviour on behalf of the headmaster, and clearly others like him, is borne out in recent research published in the national press last month. This research revealed that dozens of teachers disciplined for sexual misconduct are never reported to the police. And I am not surprised as the consequences for the school and its headteacher are enormous as the Rev Tim Hastie-Smith at Dean Close School recently learnt to his own cost.
Blowing the whistle?
So, what is the way forward in such situations? As a teacher, how do you ensure that the colleagues you know to be sexually dabbling with their pupils are found out and correctly dealt with by the authorities?
Why, by going over the headteacher’s head and anonymously reporting your colleagues to the authorities!
Yet another case of a male teacher in an English public school having an affair with one of his pupils. This time, the victim is a 17 year-old girl in the Sixth Form.
Apparently, the teacher, a certain Dr Terence Bell, 46, married with three children, was caught out when another pupil at the school found the 17-year-old girl sitting across Dr Bell’s lap in a classroom at Stonyhurst College, a £22,000 a year boarding school in Lancashire.
And the consequences of his foolish behaviour?
Former Head of English at Stonyhurst College, Dr Terence Bell
Apart from the jail sentence, Dr Bell was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for seven years and barred from working with children for an unspecified period.
So, was it all really worth it, Dr Bell? Were you not aware of the legal mess you were storing up for yourself upon being found out, an almost certain eventuality in such a close-knit community as a boarding school?
Stonyhurst College has already been hit by a sex scandal in recent times, involving Father Jock Earle, a former Provincial of the English Jesuits. It was revealed in the national press that his career was clouded over allegations of sexual misconduct with his pupils whilst he was headmaster of Stonyhurst, which only came to public light some 30 years after he had left the school.
So, what is it about teachers in boarding schools such as Stonyhurst College that they cannot keep away from the young and impressionable pupils in their care?
Is the temptation too much for them? Or is it because of the social and geographical isolation of such schools from the community around them that they think they will never get caught out?
Think again, you teachers out there who engage in such activity.
Many apologies for not posting for so long. It’s just I’ve over-blogged myself and am rather in need of a rest!
However, something happened yesterday which has prompted me once again to let you all know about it….
And why? Because it’s important to know what has been going on in some of the most prestigious public schools in the UK – right at the heart of the English Establishment.
My book ‘The Grim Rupert’ is based upon fact. Based, in fact, on teachers I have worked with in English boarding schools, teachers who have dangerously dabbled with the pupils in their care – sexually. The schools I have called ‘Queensford School’ and ‘Faggs School’ are both well-known schools nationally, particularly the latter.
In the UK, it is illegal for a teacher to have any sexual relations of any nature with a pupil in their care – right up to their 19th birthday.
Yesterday, I saw Alex, totally out-of-the-blue, walking towards me, with his young rugby squad for a match at my school!
Alex worked with me at ‘Queensford School’ and it appears he’s now teaching at another famous boys’ public school in South London. At ‘Queensford School’ he was well-known for dabbling with the young girls in the Sixth Form, along with his other teaching colleagues – all bachelors – characters I have called ‘Grunt’ and ‘Burper’ in my book. Alex’s character name in my book is ‘Flirt’.
These bachelor teachers, stuck in a quiet market town not that far from London, had little else to do with their social time other than fraternise with these impressionable girls. It is also thought they were all investigated by the local county Child Protection Officers for such illegal dealings. It appears ‘Grunt’, ‘Burper’ and ‘Flirt’ were good liars – because they are all still teaching.
And what about the headmaster of ‘Queensford School’?
What he tried to do for the main character in my book (‘Justin Rupert’) was to offer to get him a job at a famous boys’ independent school in the north of England, knowing full well that ‘Justin’ had committed sex offences against his female pupils. As headmaster, he should have reported the incident to the authorities AT THAT POINT IN TIME but he did not! A very stupid thing to do, ‘Mr Terry Adams’! As headmaster, you should have known better. Look what happened to the Rev Tim Hastie-Smith at Dean Close School.
So, it therefore now looks as if the same plight has fallen upon Alex the Flirt.
That is, kept as far away as possible from the young girls! At a boys’ school.
He’s at his new school in South London by the skin of his teeth.
‘Chosen’ is a film which exposes the sexual abuse suffered by young children at a preparatory school (Caldicott Prep School) in England. Shown recently on Channel 4, the film’s hard-hitting message earned it a well-deserved BAFTA award for best documentary.
A section from the ‘Chosen’ website gives the following background details of the film:
‘For thirty years the boys, and the men they became, stayed silent, nursing the dark secret of the abuse they suffered. But in this film, Tom, Mark and Alastair break that silence with spellbinding articulacy and breathtaking honesty – telling their stories straight to camera.
Standing apart from more tabloid models of talking about paedophilia, this film is sensitively told, allowing the men to talk directly about their experiences and the effect it has had on the rest of their lives.
‘Chosen’ reveals how these boys were groomed, how the private school system is poorly regulated, how abuse goes undetected, and why we need to listen.’
The film itself can be watched by opening up the link ‘Chosen – a harrowing tale of child sex abuse’ under the category ‘Child Sex Abuse’.
