Teacher accused by Nicky Campbell of being a paedophile who abused boys at some of Scotland’s top schools faces new sex claims in South Africa as he fights extradition back to the UK

• Nicky Campbell claims a teacher was a notorious abuser at Edinburgh Academy
• The man, known as Edgar, admitted fondling pupils at the top schools he worked
• Now, he is also accused of abusing a pupil in his adopted country of South Africa
• Campbell praised victim for speaking out, as efforts to extradite Edgar continue

A retired schoolmaster accused of sexually abusing boys at some of Scotland’s most prestigious schools is now facing similar allegations in his adopted country of South Africa.

Broadcaster Nicky Campbell has spearheaded the campaign to extradite the 82-year-old man, who has admitted fondling male pupils at Fettes College and Edinburgh Academy, which Campbell attended in the 1970s.

Campbell said he saw the man abuse his friend in his school’s changing rooms and described the man’s conduct as ‘so ubiquitous’ that all of the pupils knew what was going on. 

Now, the man – referred to only as ‘Edgar’ for legal reasons – is accused of abusing another boy at Rondebosch Boys’ School in Cape Town, where he taught from 1979 to 2006, The Mirror reports.

Broadcaster Nicky Campbell says he witnessed his former teacher ‘Edgar’ abuse male pupils at Edinburgh Academy in the 1970s and has spearheaded the campaign to extradite the man to the UK from South Africa

Edinburgh Academy, where Edgar allegedly abused dozens of boys in the 1970s, has since issued a public apology and says it is cooperating with police

The victim, known as Steven, was interviewed by journalist Alex Renton for his Radio 4 series Dark Corners. He described being molested by Edgar several times in one year in the 1980s.

Steven said: ‘He was a senior teacher in his 50s, I was a 12, 13-year-old boy. All I could say was, “yes sir, no sir”. His favourite one was being untidy. If your shirt wasn’t tucked in, that was part of his modus operandi to have physical contact with you. That would progress to grabbing me. He would push himself up against me.’

Steven added that he witnessed Edgar abusing other boys at the school. 

Dark Corners, which investigates abuse allegations at some of Britain’s most elite schools, reported that the Cape Town School has appealed for alumni to come forward with their stories if they believe they were abused. 

Campbell described the interview as a ‘breakthrough’ and said he was glad the ‘net was finally closing in’ on the suspect.

He said: ‘It’s a real breakthrough. The Scottish and South African legal authorities have made procedural errors, but there’s now a very good chance Edgar will be prosecuted in South Africa.

Fettes College, made a ‘full and unreserved apology’ to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry over the abuse carried out by Edgar

‘I’ve listened to the whole unedited interview with tears in my eyes. It is incredibly powerful. Your hear the shame. It is incredible that he has come forward.’

Speaking on BBC Breakfast last July, Campbell said that another teacher at his school, Hamish Dawson, had abused him and had since died. Now he wants to bring ‘Edgar’ to justice, who is proving difficult to extradite.

‘I think it’s an absolute scandal that the extradition process is kind of like yeah whatever,’ he said. 

‘[Edgar] could well be one of the most prolific paedophiles in British criminal history if you do the maths and look at how long he taught and how many schools he was at.’ 

He claimed that in 1971, aged 10, he witnessed the man – who has more than 20 child abuse allegations to his name under the ongoing Scottish Child Abuse Enquiry – abusing one of his friends in Edinburgh Academy’s showers after rugby training. 

‘My friend is laughing but I know from the fear in it that it’s not a good laugh,’ Campbell recounted. ‘When we walk to the bus stop we don’t even talk about it and we’d never tell.’

Nicky Campbell spoke in July about witnessing and experiencing sexual and violent physical abuse as a young schoolboy at a Scottish private school during the 1970s 

The former Watchdog presenter added he ‘couldn’t have spoken about the school’ when his mother and father ‘were alive’ because of the sacrifices they made to send him to private school.

He also called on a change of the rules for private schools who are not subject to the same safeguarding requirements as state schools.

Mr Campbell added: ‘There is no mandatory reporting in the private sector and you think now with our understanding and sensibilities he would be.

‘Schools like that fostered a culture of omerta and not telling and keeping the secrets and these are the people who have been running the country.’

After Campbell went public with the allegations, other former pupils of Edinburgh Academy and Fettes College stepped forward with stories of abuse.

Edinburgh Academy has since issued a public apology and say it is cooperating with police.

In a statement to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, Fettes College – whose alumni include former PM Tony Blair – made a ‘full and unreserved apology’.

It said: ‘While words of apology may have limited worth, we fully accept and recognise in the past there was sexual, physical and emotional abuse of pupils while at Fettes College.’

Edgar, who lives in a retirement complex in Cape Town, was arrested in South Africa in 2019 by British Police, and is due to appear in court on March 17 for a further extradition hearing.

He told a previous court hearing that he moved to Edinburgh from South Africa in 1967 to seek treatment after experiencing ‘urges’ to touch boys in the school he worked after graduating, The Times reports.

• Dark Corners airs on Radio 4 at 8pm tonight, and is on BBC Sounds.

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