Inquiry told pupils were abused 'dreadfully' at military school

Children attending a military boarding school whose former patron was Prince Philip were subjected to ‘dreadful abuse’, an inquiry has found.

Pupils at Queen Victoria School (QVS) in Dunblane, Perthshire, were beaten in an environment where ‘violence was allowed to prevail’, according to the £85million Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI).

Victims were physically and emotionally abused by teachers and older children, which ought to have been ‘obvious’ to those responsible for running the school, said SCAI chairman Lady Smith.

Youngsters were beaten or hit by ‘a small number of teachers’ with belts, slippers, a cricket bat and wooden dusters – ‘under the guise of corporal punishment’.

Older children would also subject younger ones to ‘cruel and terrifying behaviour’ – such as tying them to chairs and putting bags over their heads.

QVS was constituted by a royal warrant initiated by Queen Victoria but enacted by her son, King Edward VII, who signed it in 1905. The school was established with the initial aim of providing support and education to sons of Scottish servicemen of ranks other than officers.

Retired judge Lady Smith made her remarks about the school as the latest volume of her inquiry findings were published yesterday. She said: ‘The pupils at QVS were all boarders and they were exposed to risks of sexual, physical and emotional abuse.

‘For many of them, those risks materialised and children suffered abuse.

‘I have no difficulty in finding that children were abused by staff whose abusive practices were such that they must, or at least ought to, have been obvious to those in positions of responsibility. Further, they were abused by senior and other pupils, some of whose practices must or ought to have been obvious.

‘It was mistakenly assumed the background and governance of the school would be enough to provide appropriate residential care.’

The ex-judge said that ‘throughout many decades, particularly the late 1950s to the early 1990s, that assumption was ill-founded, and, in fact, children for whose care the school was responsible were abused’.

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She concluded: ‘The current management, the commissioners, and the MoD now understand that there is no room for complacency given the abuse that has taken place since 2010 despite the child protection systems and policies that had been put in place.

‘QVS apologised for the abuse experienced by children who had been entrusted into its care.’

Lady Smith said two teachers had sexually abused pupils, in different decades.

Ben Philip, a teacher at QVS between 1973 and 1993, groomed and abused ‘multiple P6 boys’.

The SCAI chairman said Philip – now dead – used a ‘mix of kindness and intimidation towards vulnerable children to present himself as a father figure’.

James Clark, a drumming instructor, was jailed for one year and nine months in 2021 for abusing seven female pupils between 2011 and 2019, including by ‘means of indecent assaults’.

He ‘groomed them openly…so as to seek to normalise sexualised behaviour’.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said on behalf of QVS: ‘Every child deserves to feel safe and protected and the experiences of past students at QVS were totally unacceptable. We have worked extensively with the inquiry and the school is committed to ensuring this never happens again.’