THE headmaster and a teacher from a former Catholic school for troubled boys have been convicted of physical and sexual abuse against six pupils more than 30 years ago.
John Farrell, 73, and Paul Kelly, 64, preyed on youngsters between the ages of 11 and 15 at St Ninian’s in Falkland, Fife, run by the Christian Brothers organisation before its closure in 1983.
The pair were found guilty after a 13-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow and were placed on the sex offender’s register.
Judge Lord Matthews said the men had been convicted of “very serious matters” and they were remanded in custody pending sentencing next month.
Farrell, of Motherwell, who was the headmaster, was found guilty of four charges of physically abusing one boy with a belt and sexually abusing three others. Teacher Kelly, from Plymouth, was convicted of four counts of indecent assault and three assault charges, including hitting a boy’s head off sinks at the school.
One of the victims was sexually abused by both men on different occasions. The pair were tried on about 50 charges but the jury, returning a verdict on its eighth day of deliberations, found them not guilty, or the offence not proven, of all but 11.
Charges against three other men were earlier dropped.
The trial began in April and followed one of the biggest abuse inquiries of its kind ever carried out by Police Scotland.
Several victims attended court and cried “yes” when the judge told the men, previously on bail, that they would be remanded in custody ahead of sentencing next month.
The current police investigation into St Ninian’s began in 2013 after officers received three separate complaints of sexual abuse from former pupils. A total of 37 men eventually came forward with claims relating to their stay at the residential school, which took in boys who had been orphaned, neglected, or could not be looked after by their parents.
Police Scotland said Kelly and Farrell – headmaster of St Ninian’s at the time of the offences – had betrayed pupils’ trust “in a despic- able manner”. Chief Inspector Nicola Shepherd, who led the investigation, said: “For a number of years, these men, who were placed in a position of trust, carried out prolonged abuse on a significant number of vulnerable young people. They betrayed that trust in the most despicable manner possible and subjected their victims to years of suffering. It is thanks to the courage of those who came forward to provide us with vital information that we were able to bring Farrell and Kelly to justice for their crimes.”
The jury found Farrell not guilty of hitting a pupil with a Bible and Kelly not guilty of locking a boy up in a cage in the school basement. The pair were also cleared of making pupils stand in a hallway for prolonged periods while naked or wearing only underwear.
An NSPCC Scotland spokesman said: “Abuse can ruin childhoods and Kelly and Farrell exploited their positions of trust to cynically target vulnerable children. As a result of the enormous bravery of the victims in speaking out, these men won’t be able to hurt any more children.
“It’s vital adults and children who have been affected by abuse get the support they need rather than suffer in silence, as sadly so many do.”
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