The horror of child abuse at one of Scotland’s oldest schools – £37,00-a-year Loretto
REVEALED: The horror of child abuse at one of Scotland’s oldest schools – £37,00-a-year Loretto – which saw sexual, emotional and physical torment
- Loretto allowed abusive teacher Guy Ray-Hills to resign rather than be sacked
- School which charges up to £36,945-a-year is being investigated for child abuse
- Alumni of school founded in 1827 include Andrew Marr and Alistair Darling
Children at one of Scotland’s oldest boarding schools were subjected to sexual, physical and emotional abuse, an inquiry has found.
Staff at Loretto, in Musselburgh, East Lothian, which charges fees of up to £36,945-a-year, allowed one abusive teacher, Guy Ray-Hills, to resign rather than being sacked.
Loretto, which was founded in 1827 and whose alumni include ex-Chancellor Alistair Darling and journalist Andrew Marr, is one of several boarding schools investigated by the £64.6million Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI).
Publishing her findings about the school, SCAI chairman Lady Smith found pupils endured physical, sexual and emotional abuse, the impact of which on some ‘has been and will be lifelong’.
She found that a number of staff at Loretto abused children, including Ray-Hills, a French teacher at Loretto junior school between 1951 and 1967.
Children at one of Scotland’s oldest boarding schools, Loretto (pictured), were subjected to sexual, physical and emotional abuse, an inquiry has found
Lady Smith (pictured) found that a number of staff at Loretto abused children, including Ray-Hills, a French teacher at Loretto junior school between 1951 and 1967
Rapist teacher ‘just like Weinstein’
A film director told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry he was raped by a teacher whose predatory actions reminded him of Harvey Weinstein, the former Hollywood movie mogul who was jailed over a string of sexual offences.
Don Boyd, 75, said Guy Ray-Hills had Weinstein’s ability to charm and manipulate people.
Mr Boyd went on to become a film and TV director working with stars including Laurence Olivier and Dame Helen Mirren. The father of three said Ray-Hills was a French teacher whose lessons ‘were like street theatre’.
Mr Boyd told BBC Scotland in 2021: ‘He used his charm and charisma to great effect. As a child you were prey to that and it was easy to be sucked into the need to be secret.’
Mr Boyd said Ray-Hills called him one of his ‘special friends’. The abuse began in the teacher’s bedroom at Loretto when Mr Boyd was 12 and lasted until he left school aged 16.
He said: ‘Not only was I groomed for sexual abuse but I was raped as a child. It wasn’t until much later in life that I could identify it as rape but that’s what it was.’
Three ex-pupils made criminal complaints against Ray-Hills, but the case did not go to court because of his age. He has since died.
He was described by Lady Smith as a ‘prolific sexual predator’ who groomed children and established abusive sexual relationships with them, some of which lasted for four years.
Lady Smith said: ‘At the outset, I want to make it clear that I find there were many children who had positive experiences at Loretto and, in many ways, went on to have rewarding adult lives.
‘Also, there is no doubt that the school has provided many children with a good education. However, not all children had positive experiences and amongst those who did, there were children who also suffered abuse.
‘Children who boarded at Loretto were exposed to risks of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. For many, those risks materialised, and I have no doubt that children were abused whilst in Loretto’s care.’
Lady Smith found the response by Loretto to Ray-Hills’s behaviour was ‘woefully inadequate’.
The school has previously apologised for giving a good job reference to him after he left. He has since died.
Lady Smith also found that another teacher groomed a final-year pupil, and four other teachers were reported to have touched children inappropriately or made sexual comments that were offensive and upsetting to pupils.
The period covered in evidence ranged from 1948 to 2021, partly beyond the terms of reference of the inquiry, which covers up to December 2014. However, Lady Smith said it would have been wrong to curtail it.
Sexually abusive conduct by older children towards younger pupils was normalised in the all-male houses at Loretto, which is now co-educational, Lady Smith said. She found there was a lack of oversight and review of the administration of corporal punishment by older boys over decades, which she described as a serious failing.
Lady Smith found bullying, with associated physical abuse, inflicted on younger boys by older boys, was a constant at Loretto throughout the 20th century.
Bullying cultures were allowed to prevail because of staff complacency and a lack of supervision by them.
Last night, a spokesman for the school said: ‘Today’s report from the SCAI has been a stark reminder of the first-hand evidence given by those who survived abuse whilst pupils at Loretto.
Former Chancellor Alistair Darling (left) and journalist Andrew Marr (right) both attended Loretto
‘We found listening to the accounts from survivors at the time of the inquiry profoundly troubling, and reading Lady Smith’s report reignites these feelings: much of the content is deeply disturbing.
‘On behalf of the school, we reaffirm our unreserved apology and deep regret for the hurt and pain suffered.
‘Throughout the process of the inquiry, Loretto has acknowledged the testimony of the survivors, and fully recognises and respects the courage and the determination that they have shown.’
