THE identity of the private school teacher accused of abusing a number of children in Edinburgh during the 60s and 70s has been revealed in the Commons.
SNP MP Ian Blackford used parliamentary privilege to name a man previously referred to as "Edgar" under an anonymity order at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.
The 83-year-old ex-maths teacher is currently living in South Africa, where he is fighting an extradition charge to Scotland.
Broadcaster Nicky Campbell is one of many former pupils to have made an allegation about the teacher.
He says he witnessed the sexual abuse of a fellow pupil at Edinburgh Academy.
Last month, Fettes College, where he also taught, issued a “full and unreserved apology to anyone who suffered abuse” at the school, after a former pupil was awarded £450,000 in damages.
READ MORE: Edinburgh police: Investigation launched into abuse claims at Nicky Campbell’s old school
Speaking during Education Questions in the Commons, Mr Blackford said it was in the public interest to name the man.
He told MPs: "All of us in this house will prioritise keeping school children safe from sexual predators and I am sure the minister will be aware of the Scottish Child Abuse enquiry detailing the horrific allegations from a number of witnesses to events at Edinburgh Academy and Fettes schools by an individual referred to as ‘Edgar’.
"I have a number of constituents who have complaints against ‘Edgar’.
"This man has admitted to inappropriate behaviour and is currently fighting extradition from South Africa where he has been publicly named.
"There is precedence in England where another alleged abuser living in South Africa whose extradition has been sought has been publicly named.
"We now know that there are dozens of boys who have come forward to the police with allegations against the man referred to as ‘Edgar’. It is important that others who were abused by this man can come forward.
"It is right that his crimes against children are named – and it is also right that he is now named."
He then went on to name the man.
READ MORE: 'Edinburgh Academy abuse affected my life'
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan replied: “Child sexual abuse is an abhorrent crime and the government is sympathetic to the victims and survivors of such abuse as set out in November in response to the final report of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.
“It is important that due process is followed, allowing investigatory and legal processes to take place in order to maximise the chances of conviction.”
In documents related to extradition proceedings seen by the BBC, the man said that while teaching at Edinburgh Academy he had "urges to touch the students inappropriately and on occasion I did so".
The court documents state that the teacher decided to travel to the UK in 1967 for psychiatric treatment for his "problem".
He spent three months at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital before being discharged and obtaining a diploma in education at Moray House College the following year.
In 1979, when a pupil complained about him, he said he admitted the behaviour and agreed to leave the college.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here