Broadcaster Nicky Campbell has hit out at delays in bringing an alleged abuser at his former school to justice while he lives in luxury.
Iain Wares, 83, is still living in an upmarket retirement community in Cape Town, South Africa, four years after a raft of allegations of brutal physical and sexual abuse against him were made public.
Nicky, 61, previously told how he watched as Wares abused a friend of his while a schoolboy at Edinburgh Academy.
Now he has warned that if the Crown Office does not pursue extradition with urgency, Wares would be able to see out his remaining years in sun-soaked luxury.
Nicky said yesterday: “For him to die in comfort in South Africa would break the hearts of many men who are already broken.”
Wares, who taught at Tony Blair’s old school Fettes College as well as Edinburgh Academy, faces more than 80 charges of historic abuse in Scotland relating to more than 40 victims.
Nicky said: “As children, we spoke about it with each other, but not with the authorities. There was shame, guilt and the need to protect parents.”
He added: “The most heinous thing about this man, we have established through friends, is that this behaviour happened on a daily basis for years and years.
“If you add it up, this man is one of the most prolific paedophiles in British criminal history. He spent five years at Edinburgh Academy, six at Fettes, abusing up to half a class at a time, abusing children daily.
"He is absolutely one of the most horrific paedophiles in our history and the impact he has had on so many people is devastating.”
Wares is facing charges of historic abuse in his native South Africa, where he also taught. In April, Campbell’s friend Neil Douglas – who claims he was abused by Wares at Edinburgh Academy – flew to Cape Town to attend a preliminary hearing on some of those charges.
Because of Wares’ age – he will be 84 in 10 days – Neil feared he could not count on him being prosecuted in Scotland and wanted to have the chance to look him in the eye.
Yesterday, a video-recorded conversation between Nicky and Neil was played to a press conference hosted by Women + Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA), a justice campaign group in South Africa demanding justice for Wares’ victims. Neil said in his introduction: “I was in Wares’ class from September 1972 to June 1973 and he sexually and physically abused me every day right through the school year.”
Nicky was visibly shocked when Neil told him that he had attempted suicide as a result of the abuse when he was 11 or 12.
Speaking to the Record yesterday, Neil explained the profound impact Wares had had on his life, and his anger at the lack of urgency shown by our justice system.
He said: “You carry guilt and shame for life. You lack confidence, even when people give you praise, you feel you’re not good enough. It affects your ability to trust, your ability to have normal, healthy physical contact with people without cringing.
“My wife didn’t find out what this man had done to me until July last year, and I only told my kids in April this year because I knew there might be some press coverage of my trip to Cape Town.
“It’s not easy to share a secret you’ve kept for 50 years even with those closest to you.”
Yesterday, Nicky and Neil, with support from WMACA, called on the Scottish and South Africanauthorities to make dealing with Wares a priority.
Neil said: “It took the Scottish authorities two or three years even to start to make the request to bring him back for trial. They need to start making more of a fuss about it for the sake of the survivors.
“We want to see him tried in the High Court in Edinburgh, and to be able to come out of there together, on to the Royal Mile, and know he is going to jail.”
A spokeswoman for the Crown Office said: “In order to protect any future proceedings and to preserve the rights of the complainers, the Crown will not comment further at this stage.”
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