Pupils suffered 'dreadful abuse' over decades at Edinburgh Academy, inquiry finds

Pupils at Edinburgh Academy suffered "dreadful abuse" over four decades while the school sought to protect its reputation and ignored complaints, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has found.

Lady Smith, chair of the inquiry, found that children were abused by staff from the 1950s to the 1980s, and endured physical and emotional abuse.

She said some boarders lived in a "permanent state of fear" and that the institution "failed to look at itself through a realistic and critical lens".

Broadcaster Nicky Campbell, who attended the school between 1966 and 1978, was among those who gave evidence to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) and described being "haunted" in the middle of the night by memories of his schooldays.

Lady Smith named four alleged serial perpetrators of abuse - ex-housemaster and senior school teacher Hamish Dawson, who died in 2009; ex-housemaster and deputy head of the junior school John Brownlee; physics teacher William Bain, a now twice-convicted sex offender who began his lengthy history of abuse at Edinburgh Academy before moving on to harm children at other schools, and one other staff member.

Edinburgh Academy has reiterated its "sincere apology" to all those affected by abuse at the school and said it is educating its current pupils in a "caring and supportive environment".

Lady Smith said: "For decades, the school failed to look at itself through a realistic and critical lens.

"It is clear it was assumed that abuse did not and would not take place; when it did, the school could not accept that it had happened, failed to address it, and failed to recognise the risk of it continuing. Complacency was the order of the day.

"When complaints were made, they were either disbelieved or left unresolved. Staff chose not to notice and avoided intervention or investigation despite there being obvious signs of abuse."

She added: "Children were failed, and failed to the extent that there was dreadful abuse."

More from Sky News:
Ex-Edinburgh Academy teacher abused boys for 27 years

In 2024, Brownlee, then 89, was ruled by a court to have committed "cruel and unnatural acts" of physical and emotional abuse on pupils at the school between 1967 and 1991, but was deemed medically unfit to stand trial and was not sentenced to punishment.

Lady Smith found that homophobia was rife at the academy, while racism was prevalent even in the prep school, often involving anti-English sentiment, while some pupils were abused by others because they were Jewish or because of their skin colour.

Girls were subjected to "unpleasant abusive misogyny" after the introduction of co-education in the sixth form.

Lady Smith also referred to the evidence of a former pupil, who gave evidence using the pseudonym Henry, who described how it was "normal to groom 11-year-olds with jelly babies" and molest them in front of many others.

He told the inquiry: "It was normal to kick, hit and strangle, to the point of unconsciousness, 10-year-olds. "It was normal to inflict physical punishment with a plank of wood with no good reason," he added.

Barry Welsh, rector of the academy, said: "We have a commitment to facing up to the wrongs of the past which remains unwavering. We are grateful to Lady Smith and we have played our part in her inquiry throughout.

"Her report makes for sombre reading, and reinforces the remarkable bravery shown by our former pupils who have given evidence. We reiterate our sincere apology to all those affected by any abuse that occurred at our school.

"While we cannot change the past, we can shape the future. We continue to support survivors as fully as we are able whilst also educating our current pupils in a caring and supportive environment."

(c) Sky News 2026: Pupils suffered 'dreadful abuse' over decades at Edinburgh Academy, inquiry finds