Police probe sex abuse claims at Edinburgh Academy

TWO cases of alleged historic sexual abuse are being investigated at one of the Capital’s top private schools, the Evening News can reveal.
The claims centre on Edinburgh Academy. Picture: Ian RutherfordThe claims centre on Edinburgh Academy. Picture: Ian Rutherford
The claims centre on Edinburgh Academy. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Former pupils are understood to have come forward with claims about teachers at Edinburgh Academy dating back to the early 1970s.

A police probe is believed to be at an advanced stage, and a report has been sent to the procurator fiscal.

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Marco Longmore, rector of Edinburgh Academy, said: “We have been made aware of the police investigation and are co-operating fully with the relevant authorities. It is our understanding that these alleged events date back to the late 1960s and 1970s.

“At Edinburgh Academy we adhere to the very highest standards of pupil care and child protection in line with best practice guidance seen within all Scottish schools.”

The revelations about the fee-paying institution come more than a decade after Scottish actor Iain Glen claimed he was molested while in the upper school.

Game of Thrones star Glen spoke out in 2001, claiming that he and other boys were sexually abused in the showers at Edinburgh Academy – where current fees cost up to £4000 a term – while studying there in the late 1960s.

His allegations prompted another old boy to reveal that he was regularly fondled by a teacher in full view of his classmates.

Kim Wolfe Murray – son of writer Angus Wolfe Murray – said when he started at the academy’s prep school, aged 11, one teacher was molesting boys in front of other pupils.

Allegations of sexual abuse also arose at Loretto in Musselburgh in 2001, when film director Don Boyd claimed he had been sexually abused by former master Anthony Ray-Hills. Loretto acted immediately by contacting everyone who had ever been taught by Ray-Hills, and the school received 35 letters back from alleged victims of his abuse.

The late Ray-Hills, then in his late 70s, was charged with a string of sex offences but the case was dropped on grounds of his ill health.

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Police statistics published in July last year revealed notable success in solving sexual assault and rape complaints.

Officers said the 12 per cent rise in reported rapes in Edinburgh may have been sparked by the high-profile Operation Yewtree investigation that saw celebrities Jimmy Savile, Stuart Hall and Rolf Harris convicted of sex crimes.

A police spokesman said: “Should an individual lodge a formal complaint with us then we will carry out a thorough investigation.”