A former teacher has been found guilty of 26 offences of sexual and physical assault against boys at one of Scotland’s best-known private schools.
A judge sitting at Edinburgh sheriff court ruled on Monday that John Young, known widely as Jake Young, deliberately and gratuitously assaulted boys as young as 10 while he was head of physical education at Edinburgh Academy.
Sheriff Iain Nicol said in one case Young, now 91 and a former international rugby referee, carried out a “harrowing” assault on a boy whom he kicked and punched repeatedly while the child was recovering from a spinal injury.
The boy, who was 12 and walked with a visible limp because of the injury, pleaded with Young during a PE class that he was unable to pick up some weights as ordered, prompting Young to lash out at his head and kick him, causing “substantial pain”.
Young’s assaults, which took place between 1966 and 1993, included twisting and squeezing boys’ genitals, striking them with a cricket bat, a wooden implement or a clipboard, and looking at their genitalia under their shorts.
Despite the guilty verdicts, Young will not face punishment because he was found too ill and infirm to stand trial. He is close to death, the sheriff said, so could not appear in court or mount a defence.
Scotland’s court service agreed instead to hold an examination of the facts hearing, a rare process in criminal cases where the allegations are made without a jury present for the judge to weigh up.
The courts used the same process last year to find another former Edinburgh Academy master, John Brownlee, guilty of more than 30 assaults against boys at the school without a formal trial. The cases have come to light during a public inquiry into systematic abuse in Scottish schools and care homes, leading to a flood of compensation cases.
Brownlee’s “sadistic” violence, often against pre-pubescent boys he was supposed to care for in a school boarding house, took place during the same decades as Young’s assaults. Four of the 24 complainants in the Young case, who are all now adult men, were also among Brownlee’s victims.
Nicol cleared Young of 28 charges, mainly breaches of the peace and indecent assaults where the former master was accused in court of “perving” on young boys by routinely watching them showering.
The sheriff ruled there was strong evidence Young often did so to ensure the boys were showering and changing quickly to ensure they reached their next classes on time.
A spokesperson for Young’s victims said the verdict would provide some comfort. Many were not believed at the time. The decision to hear the case had confirmed “the significant passage of time is no barrier in holding those guilty to account”, they said.
The case had shown that Young “committed acts of cruelty and to have physically and mentally terrified many boys that he was entrusted to look after.
“The fact that numerous men came forward, many decades later, shows the severity and lifelong impact that childhood abuse has had throughout their lives, with many waiting over 50 years for justice to be served.”
