Six former paedophile employees of a boarding school for boys with learning disabilities, The Rhydd Court School Paedophiles, have gone on trial accused of a catalogue of charges connected with an alleged “culture of neglect” extending from the late 1970s until 1991. They are alleged to have tortured, abused, raped, sexually assaulted and neglected young vulnerable disabled children. The children were unable to escape the abuse and suffered imaginable horrors at the hands of the Rhydd Court School teachers and staff.
A jury at Birmingham Crown Court was that some of the claimed victims at the now-closed Rhydd Court School in Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, were as young as eight or nine.
“The prosecution case is that children who attended that school suffered emotional, physical and sexual abuse on a systematic scale at the hands of both other children that were there, and members of staff, prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC told the court opening the case against Michael Connor, aged 71, John Dixon, 84, Terence Heath, 76, Marie Handy, 52, Charmaine James, 64, and 78-year-old David Sykes.
“Those who worked at the school, the Crown claims, let a nasty culture of neglect and mistreatment blossom almost unbridled.
“The prosecution claims these defendants belonged to a group of staff members and teachers who knew what was happening but did nothing to stop it.
“Rather, they used it to their advantage, committing similar offences against the children themselves.”
Jurors were informed that the council-run school would serve about 90 students with special educational requirements ranging from eight to eighteen at any time.
While she characterised the inside as a “rabbit warren” of rooms, corridors and dormitories, the prosecution claimed it was located in the “idyllic” environment of Hanley Castle but was also “isolated”. She clarified one of the school’s disciplinary policies: instead of grouping 1, which granted most privileges, the “worst behaved” students—who had allegedly engaged in sexual intercourse with other students—were placed in “group 5”. She remarked, “The effect of the punishment was to place the victims with the perpetrators. Put them all together, close a door, and then leave them to it as usual.
The court heard several staff members claimed to have engaged in misconduct — including headteacher James Moore — had already passed away; another is beyond the court’s jurisdiction.
Between January 1979 and July 1991, all six of the defendants entered not-guilty pleas to conspiracy to conduct child maltreatment. Further denying conspiracy to conduct buggery and conspiracy to commit indecent assault on a male.
Retired Deputy Headteacher Heath of Hanley Castle further refutes conspiracies to conduct indecent assault and a primary sexual offence.
Senior master Connor, 71, of Crofton, Wakefield, Yorkshire, further refutes two charges of conspiracy to commit buggery, two counts of conspiracy to commit indecent assault on a male, three counts of indecent assault on a male, three offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two charges of buggery.
Woodwork and metalwork teacher Dixon, 84, from Lincolnshire’s Burgh le Marsh, also refutes three counts of indecent assault on a male and two counts of buggery, two allegations of which constitute an additional child cruelty offence.
Former Rotherham art teacher Sykes again refutes allegations of indecent assault and causing actual physical injury.
Among a long series of specific claims, the court was informed Sykes had punched one youngster in the face so forcefully that he struck his head on a tree and perforated his eardrums. The jury also learnt about a practice known as “bed jumping,” when teachers would “come and abuse boys at night-time.”
Charmaine James, 64, of Rathven, Banffshire, Scotland, likewise refutes two allegations of indecency with a minor and two counts of indecent assault. Between 1983 and 1990, she served at the institution as a house-mother.
James allegedly led one lad into a bedroom where she ‘instigated sexual activities’ and offered to show him how to masturbate. The jury also heard of “runners,” students who sought to leave the institution only for Heath and Connor to allegedly drive a bus of bigger boys to find them and “rugby tackle.”
James Moore allegedly sexually attacked some students jointly with Connor and Heath and raped many victims in his office. Following an inquiry into student-on-pupil sexual conduct in 1991, Rhydd Court School was ordered to close; later that year, it reopened under a new name with many of the same staff continuing working. James Moore was later advised to be let go by the headmaster, but he was permitted to retire early due to ill health.
Marie Handy, 53, of Bredon, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, has entered not guilty to a single further count of indecent assault of a man. She was a housemother at Rhydd Court, a former royal residence close to the River Severn.
Expected to last until December, the trial keeps on.
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