Two quizzed in school sex abuse inquiry
POLICE have arrested two men following allegations of sexual and physical assaults at a Brighouse school.
The men, both in their mid-60s and living away from the area, were questioned in connection with alleged assaults involving pupils at the William Henry Smith School in Rastrick during the 1970s and 1980s.
Both men have been released on police bail pending further inquiries.
West Yorkshire Police has been investigating the allegations since pupils who attended the school over a 20-year period came forward to speak of the ordeal they claim they faced while they were at the school.
A police spokesman confirmed two men had been arrested on July 29 in connection with alleged sexual and physical assaults in Rastrick and released on police bail pending further investigations.
One of the former pupils who claimed he suffered abuse, 42-year-old Mr Mark Edson, understood some students had some form of compensation.
Mr Edson, who lives in Selby, but was living in Doncaster when he went to the school, said he had been told by his solicitor that some of the students had been offered compensation.
"I haven't been offered anything," said Mr Edson. "But that's not important – it is a matter of people admitting what happened at the school. Children were frightened and went through a terrible time. When I left there I said I would speak out. People should be prepared to pay the consequences."
When he was at the school, which takes pupils with behavioural problems, he said the circumstances were often so bad that he ran away on numerous occasions.
He said children were treated like sub human beings.
"There were times when we were made to have a cold shower at 2am then stand outside in the school yard," he said. "We had to live in hand-me downs and it is time that people knew what was happening. Everything we had was very basic but the school was given funding of around 100,000 a year but the money did not benefit the children. At times we were going round in rags. Some of the kids were sexually abused. We were dragged about by members of staff."
One group of children who did speak out were beaten on a daily basis. Mr Edson said they were escorted by staff everywhere they went, even to the toilet, where they were made to leave the door open.
"The school had two sides to it – one they wanted the public to see and the other where they didn't want people to know what was happening to the children and how they were ill treated," he said.
"One time my face was smashed into a sink in the school yard toilets and then I was forced to sign a document to cover up what had happened," he said.
He used to hide in the loft at his home when it was time to go back to the school and on one occasion his grandfather took him back along with his mother.
"A member of staff started punching me. My grandfather, who was 55 at the time, was so angry that he hit him back.
"A letter was sent to my mother asking my grandfather to keep away from the school," said Mr Edson.
"It seems it was all right for staff to beat children but not for an adult to step in and take similar action."
Mr Edson, who along with other former students is represented by legal company, Dyer Burdett and Co, of Hampshire, said people would find it hard to believe what happened at the school.
He stressed that he had no concerns with the present day arrangements at the school and was full of praise for the way it was currently being run.
"When I was there no inspections were carried out and no one realised what was going on," he said. "But it's time people knew."
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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