'Thousands' abused by former headmaster Robin Lindsay

Ex-pupils of a Dorset school abused by its former headmaster are seeking compensation in what is believed to be the biggest scandal of its kind.

Robin Lindsay taught at Sherborne Preparatory School for decades until, aged 70, he was found to be a "fixated paedophile" by a tribunal in 1998.

He was never prosecuted and died in 2016 after developing dementia.

His victims gave evidence to the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse and welcomed its recommendations.

The inquiry, released on Thursday, was launched in 2015 into how to reduce the threat of paedophilia - particularly in the private sector.

It called the nature and scale of abuse in England and Wales "horrific and deeply disturbing" with children "threatened, beaten and humiliated".

It recommended that anyone who works with children and does not report child sexual abuse should be prosecuted.

In 1998 the Department for Education found Lindsay was sexually abusive, encouraged children to share his bed and joined them naked in showers.

He had lived his whole life at the school - from pupil to teacher - and when he was made head in 1973 he became the owner of the school.

With no governors or trustees he answered to no one, but victims report that the abuse began long before he was made headteacher.

Philip Chatfield, who was 10 when he arrived at the school in 1968, was abused by Lindsay.

The 64-year-old said: "He took me upstairs to his bedroom and got me to lie on his bed while I had to take my shorts down exposing myself.

"He then leered over me while he rubbed my groin... while staring at my nether regions with flaring nostrils.

"He was pleasuring himself. When it was finished he walked away and I disappeared, I was in shock for days.

"That sort of thing happened to other boys as well.

"We rarely talked about it because we didn't understand it because we had been conditioned and groomed all these years just to be silent. It affects you, it's a form of rape."

Another former pupil, John Brittan, started boarding at Sherborne Prep in 1973, aged nine, and was traumatised after late night visits to his dorm by the headmaster.

The 59-year-old actor said: "Lindsay used to patrol the dormitory and you didn't know what to do .

"He put his hand up my back and rubbed my bottom... and said 'well done'.

"He used to watch the boys in the showers and make sure you wash between the buttocks and then he would shower with us."

Mr Brittan never told his parents because of he feared what Lindsay would do.

Mr Chatfield and Mr Brittan have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and are taking legal action against Lindsay's estate, alongside several other former pupils.

Their solicitor, Charles Derham from Remedy Law, said he could not comment currently, but the BBC understands Lindsay's estate has been frozen as part of the claim.

An investigation by Dorset Social Services in 1997 found disquiet expressed by boarders about the headmaster's behaviour to them in a shower room and dormitories.

The report also found concern that his remarks on the body development of pupils, pubic hair and size of genitals "demonstrated an inordinate interest in their anatomy".

Inspectors were told Lindsay had given three boys a "sleeping pill".

A female ex-pupil, who wants to remain anonymous, has told the current independent inquiry into sex abuse that Lindsay would regularly go into her dormitory at night, and she believes she may have been drugged before being abused.

Mr Brittan's sister, Joanna Brittan, is supporting his victims and believes thousands could have potentially been affected.

The 57-year-old said: "It was unbelievable that despite two really brave whistle blowers from 1985 he still remained in situ abusing children.

"Some of the boys disclosing on some of the blogs that I found are disclosing abuse from the 1950s, 60s and 70s."

After retirement, Lindsay lived next to the school and was never charged. Dorset Police said many parents were approached and a "number refused to engage for reasons only known to them".

The BBC has been told by victims that parents preferred the results their children were getting and the advantage in life that gave, rather than what was actually happening to them.

Sherborne Preparatory School, which was bought in 1998 from Lindsay, became a charitable trust and is a completely separate entity to the school he owned.

The trust says it is "horrified by the failures of authorities" to address many significant concerns raised for decades before it took over.

Another victim, Martin Herring, who boarded between 1972-75, described a "culture of abuse" that spread to the older boys.

He said: "If you had done well with your homework you were allowed to watch Top of the Pops and half-way through there were Pans People dancing.

"He would stick his head around the door to make sure they were appropriately dressed and at the same time that was happening the older boys with the serious authority were canoodling with the younger boys.

"What I realised in that environment was power was currency and the small boys were the lowest form of that currency."

In a disturbing memory, two of Lindsay's victims asked Martin to get into the science lab to make a bomb from stores.

The 61-year-old said: "I said 'why?' and they said 'because we are going to blow him up'.

"Two days later I was sitting by the running track and I heard a dull sound and I heard one of those boys running out of the woods with these two fingers missing and the rest all charred where they had obviously been rehearsing the bomb.

"They disappeared and I never heard of them again."

If you're affected by any of the issues in this report, you can find details of support organisations through BBC Action Line.