Ex-pupil who suffered ‘eight years in hell’ sues top school for £1 million

• Man claims he was trapped in a ‘madhouse of violence’ at Loretto 

A former pupil is suing an elite Scottish boarding school for £1million after claiming he was subjected to sadistic abuse ­during ‘eight years in hell’.

Angus Bell, 43, has waived his right to anonymity to tell of the ­torment he endured at Loretto, in Musselburgh, East Lothian, in the 1990s.

Earlier this year, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) said that in the past Loretto pupils were ‘exposed to sexual, physical and emotional abuse’.

Now Mr Bell claims children were beaten daily with hockey sticks and cricket bats.

He said: ‘I was a child trapped in a ­madhouse of violence, and sexual and emotional abuse.

Loretto School is under scrutiny amid allegations of child abuse

‘Even now, decades later, remembering it can make me curl up and cry. I witnessed kids set on fire. We were beaten with hockey sticks and cricket bats daily.

‘I was whipped with belt ­buckles, thrown down flights of stairs, locked in trunks, strangled. Every day was a cross between The Purge and The Running Man.

‘None of this would seem out of place in an Isis torture site, let alone a school that cost families hundreds of thousands of pounds. For me, we’re talking about ­thousands of assaults over more than 2,000 days – it was eight years in hell.’

Mr Bell’s powerful testimony is corroborated by David Stock, a former Loretto teacher.

He says he told officials at the prestigious school, which was founded in 1827, about the abuse when he became aware of it.

Mr Stock claims that after raising what he had learned his position became untenable and he had to resign and sign a non-disclosure agreement.

He accused Loretto, whose ex-pupils include journalist Andrew Marr and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, of a ‘cover-up’. Mr Stock told the

Herald on Sunday: ‘If my warnings had been heeded then the abuse which boys like Angus suffered might never have happened.’

Mr Bell suffered years of pupil-on-pupil abuse, where older boys subjected younger children to acts of violence and humiliation, often sexual.

Others who attended Loretto in the 1990s and in earlier decades also say discipline was outsourced by teaching staff to older pupils.

Abuse was often linked to ‘the fagging system’, where younger pupils were effectively servants – or ‘fags’ – for older ones.

Mr Bell claims many other pupils suffered similar torment and a large number participated in the violence. He added: ‘During the night you’d be dragged from your bed by up to 14 older boys.

‘You’d be beaten and carried through the building screaming, and thrown into a bath of cold water, your head cracking off the enamel.

Angus Bell while at Loretto School and now 

‘I was physically assaulted by dozens of boys at Loretto. I was thrown head first off a cliff, my face and spine were stamped on with rugby boots. My nose was broken, my face split open.’

Mr Bell entered the school as a straight-A student, but his grades rapidly declined. He planned to go to Oxford or Cambridge but barely scraped into any university.

In college, he was withdrawn and suffered from severe anxiety.

Mr Bell, who now lives in Canada with his wife and children, says he suffers from complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

He added: ‘For eight years, I was driven to the brink of suicide.’

His lawyers Digby Brown say the legal action – thought to be the first of its kind against Loretto – could trigger other lawsuits.

A spokesman said: ‘Sadly, as confirmed in the SCAI, we know Mr Bell is one of many who suffered at Loretto but his courage could be the catalyst to herald a new wave of justice against yet another institution that failed the children it was responsible for.

‘A historic abuse claim for damages has now been raised against the school but as it’s in the early stages it would be inappropriate to comment further.’

A spokesperson for Loretto said: ‘In light of the ongoing legal ­position and our responsibility of confidentiality to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry it is not appropriate for the school to provide any comment at this stage.’

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