Teh One Who Knocks
02-05-2014, 11:48 AM
By Dan Bloom - The Daily Mail
http://i.imgur.com/H6w2cmb.jpg
The head of a £30,000-a-year public school believed 'boys would be boys' after four pupils beat a schoolmate with a belt and another filmed himself skinning live cats, a whistleblower has claimed.
Rachel Ashley said the victim of the group attack at Oratory School in Woodcote, Oxfordshire, whose alumni include England rugby player Danny Cipriani, was wrapped in cling film and duct tape and was 'lucky not to have [been] found swinging' afterwards.
But when she took her concerns to senior management, including headmaster and Falklands War veteran Clive Dytor, she said the incident was 'covered up'.
Mrs Ashley told an employment tribunal the parents of the victim, described as Boy B, were not told about the beating because Boy B had asked the headmaster not to say anything.
She claimed one of the attackers, who beat Boy B with shoes and a belt after abducting him on his way to the toilet and dragging him onto the cricket pitch, told her: 'It was much worse than you think. We wanted to kill him.'
Boy B left the school soon afterwards, but one of his older attackers returned to lessons and was even given an unrelated prize, she said - prompting her to resign in protest.
'I tried to follow the policy in terms of seeing a doctor for him and obtaining a statement from Boy B but the whole thing was covered up,” she said.
'The parents should have been told and the perpetrators temporarily or permanently excluded.
'In a serious case, and I think the assault on Boy B was, the police or Oxfordshire safeguarding should also have been brought in.'
In a whistleblowing letter she described the disturbing case of a second boy, described as Boy A, who she said had beaten wild birds to death and filmed himself skinning live cats.
'Boy A also manufactured weapons in his (school) room - garrottes from heavy scavenged chain and nailed gloves,' she said. 'He also had a five-foot tungsten bow and arrows which were illegally purchased... He also had a high-tech BB gun.'
She was initially told the boy would be allowed to continue at the school, she said, something the headmaster's PA denied.
This was despite him also having flamethrowers made out of spray paint canisters, a cut-throat style razor made from a broken pair of scissors, a cricket glove with nails sticking out of it and a latex pig mask.
She added: 'I felt he was so dangerous to me and the pupils that his return would cause me a real problem.'
In that case, too, she said her concerns were not taken seriously enough by Mr Dytor and his deputy head and child protection officer Tom Hennessy.
'Tom told me regularly "there is only so much I can do",' she said. 'The headmaster's view was "boys will be boys" even in relation to the most appalling behaviour.'
The boy, said by psychiatrists to be of 'grave concern', was eventually told he would not be returning to school after all.
All pupils involved in the case have been granted anonymity.
Mrs Ashley, from Finchampstead, Berkshire, worked as a housemother at the 155-year-old school's boarding house for three years.
She is suing for constructive dismissal, alleging her bosses' behaviour had reached a point at which she had no option but to quit.
Mrs Ashley is also suing under Public Interest Disclosure rules, alleging she was treated badly after blowing the whistle.
She claimed Mr Hennessy hounded her repeatedly after she handed in her notice, asking her to give him evidence about the incidents which she had been compiling herself.
She refused, saying she would only hand it to an investigating officer.
During her notice period she was diagnosed with stress, having to take two weeks off work, along with anxiety and sleep problems.
The Oratory, a independent school founded for Catholics but now taking boys from all denominations, was founded in 1859 and has 420 pupils on its roll.
Among its old boys are the Anglo-French writer and historian Hilaire Belloc and rugby bad boy Danny Cipriani, better known for being the on-off boyfriend of model Kelly Brook.
The headmaster, Mr Dytor, was awarded the Military Cross for leading a near-suicidal charge on an Argentine machine gun post in the Falklands War.
The school's president is the former Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge.
Alison Beasley, a safeguarding officer at Oxfordshire County Council, said she had found no evidence to suggest a cover-up over the case of Boy B.
She told the tribunal: 'I did not find evidence that there had been a collusion by the school to cover-up criminal offences and did not uphold this aspect of the complaint.
'The school had actively sought medical attention and liaised with the health professionals, as well as instigating an internal investigation.
'The fact Boy B and the pupils involved had left the school meant there was no continuing risk of harm to him.
'This, and his requests for no action to be taken, would probably have meant no further action would have been taken if the matter had been referred to us.'
Her department did, however, uphold complaints over Boy A made against Mrs Ashley's colleague, housemaster Dr Tony Stroker.
She told the tribunal Mrs Ashley had complained that Dr Stroker did not pass on fears about Boy A to senior staff.
Dr Stroker was suspended but continued to live at Faber House and was given the new title of culture secretary, Mrs Ashley said.
'Parents were advised of this and not his suspension and on one occasion... he was paraded in assembly to launch the new theatre,' she told the tribunal.
'He was bought a new house at considerable expense to the school and only left in Easter 2013.'
English teacher Julian De Bono added that Mr Dytor had not told Boy A's parents about the home-made weapons as he did not want them 'to be caught by customs at Heathrow'.
He told the tribunal Boy A had attempted an overdose while at the school and was hospitalised, but only took homeopathic remedies.
Staff were not alerted to the incident and were only told after rumours began to circulate that the boy had 'threatened to blow something up at the end of term', he claimed.
The tribunal continues. Mr Hennessey and Mr Dytor are due to give evidence tomorrow.
http://i.imgur.com/H6w2cmb.jpg
The head of a £30,000-a-year public school believed 'boys would be boys' after four pupils beat a schoolmate with a belt and another filmed himself skinning live cats, a whistleblower has claimed.
Rachel Ashley said the victim of the group attack at Oratory School in Woodcote, Oxfordshire, whose alumni include England rugby player Danny Cipriani, was wrapped in cling film and duct tape and was 'lucky not to have [been] found swinging' afterwards.
But when she took her concerns to senior management, including headmaster and Falklands War veteran Clive Dytor, she said the incident was 'covered up'.
Mrs Ashley told an employment tribunal the parents of the victim, described as Boy B, were not told about the beating because Boy B had asked the headmaster not to say anything.
She claimed one of the attackers, who beat Boy B with shoes and a belt after abducting him on his way to the toilet and dragging him onto the cricket pitch, told her: 'It was much worse than you think. We wanted to kill him.'
Boy B left the school soon afterwards, but one of his older attackers returned to lessons and was even given an unrelated prize, she said - prompting her to resign in protest.
'I tried to follow the policy in terms of seeing a doctor for him and obtaining a statement from Boy B but the whole thing was covered up,” she said.
'The parents should have been told and the perpetrators temporarily or permanently excluded.
'In a serious case, and I think the assault on Boy B was, the police or Oxfordshire safeguarding should also have been brought in.'
In a whistleblowing letter she described the disturbing case of a second boy, described as Boy A, who she said had beaten wild birds to death and filmed himself skinning live cats.
'Boy A also manufactured weapons in his (school) room - garrottes from heavy scavenged chain and nailed gloves,' she said. 'He also had a five-foot tungsten bow and arrows which were illegally purchased... He also had a high-tech BB gun.'
She was initially told the boy would be allowed to continue at the school, she said, something the headmaster's PA denied.
This was despite him also having flamethrowers made out of spray paint canisters, a cut-throat style razor made from a broken pair of scissors, a cricket glove with nails sticking out of it and a latex pig mask.
She added: 'I felt he was so dangerous to me and the pupils that his return would cause me a real problem.'
In that case, too, she said her concerns were not taken seriously enough by Mr Dytor and his deputy head and child protection officer Tom Hennessy.
'Tom told me regularly "there is only so much I can do",' she said. 'The headmaster's view was "boys will be boys" even in relation to the most appalling behaviour.'
The boy, said by psychiatrists to be of 'grave concern', was eventually told he would not be returning to school after all.
All pupils involved in the case have been granted anonymity.
Mrs Ashley, from Finchampstead, Berkshire, worked as a housemother at the 155-year-old school's boarding house for three years.
She is suing for constructive dismissal, alleging her bosses' behaviour had reached a point at which she had no option but to quit.
Mrs Ashley is also suing under Public Interest Disclosure rules, alleging she was treated badly after blowing the whistle.
She claimed Mr Hennessy hounded her repeatedly after she handed in her notice, asking her to give him evidence about the incidents which she had been compiling herself.
She refused, saying she would only hand it to an investigating officer.
During her notice period she was diagnosed with stress, having to take two weeks off work, along with anxiety and sleep problems.
The Oratory, a independent school founded for Catholics but now taking boys from all denominations, was founded in 1859 and has 420 pupils on its roll.
Among its old boys are the Anglo-French writer and historian Hilaire Belloc and rugby bad boy Danny Cipriani, better known for being the on-off boyfriend of model Kelly Brook.
The headmaster, Mr Dytor, was awarded the Military Cross for leading a near-suicidal charge on an Argentine machine gun post in the Falklands War.
The school's president is the former Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge.
Alison Beasley, a safeguarding officer at Oxfordshire County Council, said she had found no evidence to suggest a cover-up over the case of Boy B.
She told the tribunal: 'I did not find evidence that there had been a collusion by the school to cover-up criminal offences and did not uphold this aspect of the complaint.
'The school had actively sought medical attention and liaised with the health professionals, as well as instigating an internal investigation.
'The fact Boy B and the pupils involved had left the school meant there was no continuing risk of harm to him.
'This, and his requests for no action to be taken, would probably have meant no further action would have been taken if the matter had been referred to us.'
Her department did, however, uphold complaints over Boy A made against Mrs Ashley's colleague, housemaster Dr Tony Stroker.
She told the tribunal Mrs Ashley had complained that Dr Stroker did not pass on fears about Boy A to senior staff.
Dr Stroker was suspended but continued to live at Faber House and was given the new title of culture secretary, Mrs Ashley said.
'Parents were advised of this and not his suspension and on one occasion... he was paraded in assembly to launch the new theatre,' she told the tribunal.
'He was bought a new house at considerable expense to the school and only left in Easter 2013.'
English teacher Julian De Bono added that Mr Dytor had not told Boy A's parents about the home-made weapons as he did not want them 'to be caught by customs at Heathrow'.
He told the tribunal Boy A had attempted an overdose while at the school and was hospitalised, but only took homeopathic remedies.
Staff were not alerted to the incident and were only told after rumours began to circulate that the boy had 'threatened to blow something up at the end of term', he claimed.
The tribunal continues. Mr Hennessey and Mr Dytor are due to give evidence tomorrow.