NEWSFLASH – QVS is at the centre of extraordinary allegations
Claims of VIP paedophile ring at Scots boarding school aired at abuse inquiry
SENSATIONAL claims about a VIP paedophile ring at a prestigious Scots boarding school are to be aired at Holyrood’s child abuse inquiry.
By BEN BORLAND
EXPRESS
The evidence will include claims that Dunblane killer Thomas Hamilton was connected to the network, which is also said to have included leading members of the Scottish establishment.
Queen Victoria School (QVS), which is funded by the Ministry of Defence and has Prince Philip as its patron, is at the centre of the extraordinary allegations.
It was not included in the first round of boarding schools and other establishments identified by the inquiry team, sparking fears of a cover-up.
However, a former teacher at the Dunblane school who has spent decades attempting to unmask the abusers has now been invited to tell his story.
NC – A former teacher spent decades attempting to unmask the abusers
After almost 27 years of being ignored, someone is listening and wants to know what really happened to me at QVS
Glenn Harrison
Glenn Harrison was a housemaster at QVS when he began to suspect that a shadowy cabal of powerful individuals was preying on the pupils.However, when he tried to raise the alarm in 1991 the police responded by breaking down the door to his flat, seizing his personal papers and hauling him in to be interviewed.Yesterday, Mr Harrison said: “After almost 27 years of being ignored, someone is listening and wants to know what really happened to me at QVS. I am pleased and eager to share the experience and emphasise the need for authorities to listen to children when they complain as well as teachers and carers especially in institutions. I hope my experience will help to create a more caring and safer environment for young people in the future.”After leaving QVS, Mr Harrison and his family relocated to Orkney and he made numerous attempts to have his allegations investigated over the years.
GETTY – STOCK IMAGE
Police Scotland detectives are investigating at least two cases of historical abuse
The case was finally referred to the Scottish Government’s historical child abuse inquiry in 2015, as revealed exclusively by this newspaper.Earlier this month, it also emerged that Police Scotland detectives are investigating at least two cases of historical abuse linked to QVS. One of them involves former teacher Ben Philip, who died after falling from a ladder at the school in 1993.Children of Scottish service personnel are eligible to attend QVS, which is now mixed but was an all-boys school at the time of the allegations. It is governed by a Board of Her Majesty’s Commissioners appointed by the Queen, the Scottish Secretary and the Defence Secretary.Fife campaigner Tom Minogue, a long-time supporter of Mr Harrison, has also been invited to give evidence by the inquiry’s witness support team. He said: “I never thought we’d get to this point because of the cast of characters involved with QVS, starting with the Duke of Edinburgh as patron and running down through some of the most powerful people in the land as Her Majesty’s Commissioners.
“The great and the good don’t want us to speak about any of this, starting with the fact that Thomas Hamilton was running about the place.”
Mr Harrison’s allegations centre on a group of men who would allegedly take pupils away for weekends and return them “distressed but flush with cash”.Five years after the claims were first reported to the police, 16 children and one teacher were shot at Dunblane Primary School by evil Hamilton. To his horror, Mr Harrison recognised the fiend as a frequent visitor to QVS.In evidence submitted to the inquiry, Mr Harrison states: “When I enquired about him (as well as other unknown visitors), I was told they were ‘friends of Queen Victoria School’; I have never to this day been able to find out who these ’friends’ were.”The Cullen Inquiry later heard that Hamilton took youth clubs camping in the QVS grounds, that he arranged for an acquaintance to get a summer job at the school and that he took another man shooting at the school’s firing range.
Mr Minogue said the implications of this evidence had never been properly explored and added: “These references quite clearly corroborate Glenn’s story and show that Her Majesty’s Commissioners either didn’t know what was going on at the school they were charged with governing, or they have been less than truthful.”
An MoD spokeswoman said: “We take any allegations of this nature very seriously and any claims of historical abuse involving Queen Victoria School have been passed to the police. We will fully co-operate with their inquiries.”
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http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/798285/Dunblane-killer-Thomas-Hamilton-paedophile-ring-QVS