A convicted paedophile described allegations of abuse at a residential school as a “load of rubbish” during evidence he gave to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.
The inquiry is investigating abuse in residential settings including boarding schools, religious establishments and foster care.
On Tuesday, an ex-teacher referred to as Evan gave evidence via videolink from prison, where he is serving an eight-year sentence for sex offences.
The rapist was jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2021 for seven offences against five girls aged 12 to 16.
Three of these overlapped the period when he was a teacher at Ovenstone Residential School in Pittenweem, Fife, in the 1980s – though the girls were not pupils there.
The man was given anonymity by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) and was referred to as Evan.
Ovenstone was a school for children with behavioural and emotional problems.
He was asked about three convictions of rape and sexual assault on the school premises, but denied the crimes had occurred, the inquiry heard.
The former teacher repeatedly answered “no comment” to allegations of violence and sexual assault made by the father of a pupil, and branded it a “load of rubbish”, the inquiry heard.
Giving evidence, Evan described Ovenstone as “the end of the line” for pupils he described as “castaways”, and recalled “a little village school”, praising the “caring attitude” of staff he worked with in the Fife fishing village.
Evan said: “It was our job to re-integrate children into mainstream schools and society.”
He denied general allegations of abuse, and said he was unaware of allegations of abuse during his time at the school.
However, he replied “no comment” to a string of allegations of violence.
Counsel for the inquiry Ruth Innes KC said: “I’m going to ask you about allegations made against you [by a pupil’s father]. Did you ever grab him by the back of the head?
“Did you ever hit his head on a desk? Did you ever slam the lid of the desk down on his hands?
“Did you ever press your finger into his forehead making him bend his head back? Whilst doing that did you shout in his face?
“Did you ever hit him with a pool cue? Did you ever sexually assault him with a pool cue?”
After replying “no comment”, Evan said: “This has been investigated. All my lawyer said is to say ‘no comment’. I am finding it very difficult, because that list is a load of rubbish.”
Chair of the inquiry, Lady Smith said: “It’s a matter of fairness that the questions are given to you.”
Evan said: “I’m sorry it’s just so frustrating, that I can’t unload myself to you. Obviously I’ve got to do what my lawyer tells me to do.”
Ms Innes asked if he had physically disciplined any pupils; physically assaulted any pupils, or sexually assaulted any pupils – all of which Evan denied.
She said: “We know about the convictions and they did not involve any children attending Ovenstone. Did you commit any similar offences against any child at Ovenstone?”
Evan said: “No.”
Ms Innes said: “Some of the offences in respect of which you were convicted took place at the time you were teaching, and in one case on the premises. How was it you were able to commit the offences and not be detected?”
Evan said: “No comment on that.”
Ms Innes added: “How was it you were able to commit those offences at Ovenstone and it not be detected?”
Evan said: “Quite simply because it never happened.”
He described pupils as “fragile” and “castigated”, the inquiry heard.
Evan denied any awareness of staff abusing pupils, or peer group abuse, but said that there was a lack of training on child protection.
He said: “If children were being bullied we cut that off very quickly, because these children were fragile in many ways.”
Ms Innes said: “Do you have any comment on lessons as to how to better protect children in the future?”
Evan said: “I would say there’s an ongoing need for closer inspection, ongoing oversight as to what is going on in residential settings.
“It’s a very intimate setting as you’re there 24 hours a day. There needs to be an ongoing oversight into residential settings, both council and private, and it needs to be quite rigorous.”
He added: “The six years I spent at Ovenstone were the happiest of my life. We built a playground; the kids developed emotionally and physically. I look back on it with fond memories. I’ve still got kids who are in touch with me.”
Lady Smith said: “We are all doing the best we can in the interests of children who for one reason or another have to be in residential care.”
The former headteacher of Ovenstone said he took over from an institution where children could be forced to eat their own vomit, and claimed he banned using the slipper before it was mandatory, the inquiry heard.
The retired teacher, referred to as John, worked at the school for 15 years from 1981 to 1996, and said he transformed it from “autocratic” to “democratic” and that it became a “therapeutic community”.
John said he took over from a regime where children participated in arranged fights, were locked in cupboards as a punishment and where children who wet the bed could be forced to wear soiled sheets over their head as they walked to the laundry, the inquiry heard.
Giving evidence, John said he phased out “sanctions” including the slipper in 1983, and claimed it was three years ahead of the Fife region, the inquiry heard.
John said: “Force feeding had been one of the main elements of previous regime. Children who refused to eat were served up the same food the next day. If they were sick in it, they were forced to eat it. It was common knowledge.”
He said that an allegation of a child being forced to box another boy was “a complete fairytale” and denied an allegation made by a parent that he had banged a child’s head against a bed, saying that the boy got a black eye from fighting.
John said: “Children must be able to report abuse without recrimination, without fear it could rebound on them.”
The inquiry continues in front of Lady Smith.
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