Rendon says he had made a kind of peace with his horrific experiences as a student, but decided that day that he still owed it to others “who may need revenge, relief from the story — or money” to speak up and give. his support. Since then, Renton has helped other survivors through direct support, his books and articles, and now a BBC Radio 4 series, In Dark Corners, which gives a platform to those who have suffered abuse in British independent schools. But he’s still not done: he has, he says, a database of more than 800 criminal complaints from former students at 300 mostly private boarding schools. Complaints continue. This Wednesday’s edition of In Dark Corners featured TV presenter Nicky Campbell speaking about the ‘horrendous’ abuse he experienced and witnessed during his days as a private student at the Edinburgh academy in the 1970s. revelations that prompted even more survivors to contact Rendon. “I have 50 new emails containing criminal allegations that require serious attention from me,” he says. But it’s not just the numbers involved: Rendon continues to be shocked by the “vicious” lengths to which schools go to avoid being held accountable for the historic sexual abuse that took place behind their gates. “What I still find absolutely shocking is that the great and often self-respecting institutions – and the greats who ran them and can still run them – agreed to what I consider the worst crime of all, which is not to be someone who grooms a kid and they’re abusing them, but know that’s happening under your watch and letting them continue or allowing that person to go to another school and continue their career of abuse,” says Renton. As if to prove his point, Rendon reveals he spent Wednesday morning responding to a letter from a lawyer from one of the schools he named in a recent edition of In Dark Corners threatening legal action. “It’s hard not to conclude that for many schools, including the most prominent ones, reputation still comes before children’s safety and transparency,” he says. Instead of working to understand what has happened and how to prevent it from happening again, schools too often act to protect themselves and their reputations from accusations of historical child abuse. “In that context,” Renton says, “historic[al]”it might mean something that happened just five years ago.” He adds: “Schools first try to reassure parents, without admitting any responsibility. If the case goes to court despite their efforts, they use very expensive lawyers to keep the school’s names out of court documents on the grounds of protecting the children. This means that the school’s weaknesses in tolerating a bully are not exposed so they can avoid dealing with it.” Richard Scorer, the head of abuse law at Slater & Gordon, who represented many of Jimmy Savile’s victims, had many similar experiences. “Many private residential schools have changed their legal status in recent decades – dissolving the company through which they operated and becoming a new legal entity, in some cases more than once,” he says. “In some cases, it appears that this has been done deliberately in order to avoid legal liability for past abuse. Where liabilities are not transferred to the new entity and there was no insurance for the old one, claims for compensation can be hindered and victims left without compensation.’ Part of the solution would be mandatory reporting of sexual abuse in schools. Tom Perry, founder of Mandate Now and the first whistleblower in the Caldicott school child sexual abuse scandal, has campaigned for those working in schools, healthcare and faith settings to have a legal obligation to report known or suspected abuse. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST “It sounds unbelievable, but reporting known or suspected abuse is discretionary,” she says. “All we have – unlike other countries, including France, America and Australia – is an expectation that there ‘must’ be an exhibition.” Perry rejects claims that “everything is different now.” “The foundations of institutional safeguards, which we are trying to overhaul, have remained unchanged since the 1950s,” he says. “The current law is a cumbersome patchwork of inconsistencies with hundreds of different rules in different places.” Absent legal review, Renton believes boarding schools are simply unsafe. “I’m the first person in my family in about seven generations not to send their kids to boarding school,” he says. “I just wouldn’t do it. I think it’s absolutely clear that there is a type of person who likes to prey on children in organized institutions, and the law does not protect children from these people, nor does it protect whistleblowers who try to help.”
