My evil headmaster watched me shower & molested me in bed age 10 – then went on to abuse kids for decades
A FORMER boarding school pupil has revealed how his paedophile headmaster used to watch him shower and molest him in bed – and went on to abuse other children for decades completely unchecked.
Philip spoke out about his hellish childhood at Sherborne Prep School in Dorset after a damning new report into child sex abuse in schools revealed that “schools are not as safe for children as they should be”.
Damning report
Now a sculptor, Philip was one of the 1500 survivors of child abuse who contributed to the Independent Inquiry Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) report published on Tuesday – which found that “children’s interests do not always come first” when allegations of abuse are made.
Philip was just 10 years old when he was sent to Sherborne Prep and says that the abuse by evil headteacher Robin Lindsay, who was headteacher at the school from 1953 to 1998, started right away.
“He was always around when we were showering. He couldn’t keep his eyes off us,” Philip told The Sun.
‘I had no idea what sex was’
“Over time we became accustomed to him being there, from when I first went there, at a very early age.
“I was so young I had no idea what sex was, what it was all about or weirdos like him.
“But because he was headmaster and owner of the school, he had carte blanche.
“Amazingly his bedroom was actually in one of the boarding houses amongst the dormitories of all the boys. So you could never get away from him. He was always there – there was no escape.
“My worst experience with him was when I had an injury from rugby and he said, “Ah Philip, you must come up to my room – I must sort out your injury.’
‘I froze with fear’
“So before I knew it, I was led up to his bedroom, and told to lie on his bed, and drop my shorts and expose myself while he sat there alongside, staring at my groin and breathing heavily, while I froze with fear.
“He then started to massage my groin area. It was probably the first time in my life I experienced shock. I didn’t know what the hell to do.
“And of course he was masturbating but I had no idea because I didn’t know anything about that sort of thing. I was only around 10 or 11, something around that age.”
The incident had a profound effect on Philip, who says he suffers to this day.
‘Robbed of my innocence’
“He robbed me of my innocence,” he said. “From that moment on, I’ve always struggled with sexual thoughts.
“Because anytime you get aroused, you always see his face staring at your groin. It’s a hell of an intrusion.”
On another occasion Philip, who was at the school in the early 70s, remembers how calculating Lindsay drove him and some other pupils to a rugby match in London.
Claiming that there would be no time to change when they got there, he pulled his car into a clearing and made them all change in front of him – even though there was plenty of time once they arrived at the venue.
‘Fixated paedophile’
Other times Lindsay would come and strip the beds while the boys were sleeping and stare at them or give them lessons in the changing room while they were in their pajamas.
Philip tried to tell his mother – but she had already been “groomed” by Lindsay and brushed it off.
Philip bottled away his experiences until he read a newspaper article in 1999 that Lindsay had been found at a tribunal to be a “fixated paedophile”.
He attempted to submit his experiences to the Wroath inquiry into child abuse – but shockingly was told that his response was too late to be considered.
Catalogue of concerns
Philip also contacted the school, then under new management, in 2005 detailing his abuse.
The current Sherborne Prep was taken over by a charitable body in 1998 and says it is “not in any way party to things that went on” under Lindsay’s headship.
According to IICSA’s reports, there were concerns about Lindsay’s conduct from 1974.
In 1985 a teacher resigned and went to Dorset Police to blow the whistle on Lindsay’s behavior – but the IICSA report found nothing was done.
As late as 1997, inspectors found that Lindsay was still engaging in inappropriate behavior with the children – taking them for cold showers and inviting them to his bedroom late at night, according to the report.
No justice
Lindsay resigned in 1998 after a HMI report found that he was not a “fit and proper person” to lead a school.
An official notice of complaint listed 13 allegations of inappropriate behavior including three alleged sexual assaults and possession of condoms in his suitcase prior to taking a group on a school skiing trip.
It wasn’t until 1999 that a tribunal found that he was a “fixated paedophile” who “posed a serious risk to children” and his behaviour had continued “virtually unimpeded for 24 years”.
Philip says he is outraged at the lack of justice he and his fellow survivors received – and believes lessons still have not been learned from his experiences and those of other abuse survivors.
‘Nobody wanted to know’
He is also angry at those who defended Lindsay even after he left the school – which, according to IICSA, included some parents, ex pupils and local people.
“This shouldn’t have been allowed to go on for so long. It was like nobody wanted to know,” Philip said.
“There should be an investigation into the historical sexual abuse at this school – it is horrific.”
Over the years more ex pupils came forward to give evidence to the police, but by the time officers found Lindsay in 2015, he had dementia and was unfit to stand trial, then died a year later.
The IICSA report, which Philip submitted evidence to, said it was looking into passing laws around mandatory reporting, making it illegal for school staff to know about an abuse allegation and not report it.
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Philip says he fully supports laws for mandatory reporting of sex abuse allegations – and is “shocked” that they are not in place already.
He is currently involved in a lawsuit with some other pupils of the school who are trying to obtain justice by suing the estate of Robin Lindsay.
But for Philip nothing will make up for his lost childhood.
“I feel robbed of those years because it’s shocking,” he said. “I still feel the impact of it now to this day. For God’s sake, we were children.”
The Sun has reached out to Sherborne Preparatory School for comment.
Previously, the new owners of the school have said they are a “completely different financial, legal and governance organisation” to the Sherborne led by Lindsay.
“We don’t know what happened because we are not in any way party to things that went on….,” the school said in a statement in 2018.
“I have huge sympathy for anyone who has been assaulted.
“If there is something we can do to help, we are happy to talk to them.”
The school added: “Safeguarding of children is the number one priority in the school.”