Skegby Hall: Nigel Pipe jailed for 1960s sex abuse

An ex-housemaster who sexually abused five vulnerable boys in the 1960s has been jailed for 26 years.

Nigel Pipe was convicted of 27 offences committed while working at Skegby Hall, an approved boys school in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.

Nottingham Crown Court heard the 87-year-old often took the boys, all aged under 16, from their beds at night.

Judge Julie Warburton said Pipe had breached the trust placed in him "in the most heinous of ways".

On Tuesday, following a three-week trial, a jury found Pipe guilty of four counts of buggery, nine counts of indecency with a child and 14 counts of indecent assault on a male.

The trial previously heard Pipe, of Llanwenarth View in Govilon, Abergavenny, had committed the offences while in his 30s and living at Skegby Hall with his wife.

Passing sentence, the judge said: "You are someone who sought out and preyed on young and vulnerable students, quietly controlling them with your calm manner.

"You were in a position of trust and in the course of this position you abused that trust in the most heinous of ways."

Det Con Neil Beddoe, from Nottinghamshire Police's public protection team, said: "Until you have met and interviewed victims of childhood sexual abuse, it is difficult to understand just how damaging these acts can be.

"These men have all had to live with the burden of what happened to them as children and have, in many cases, experienced considerable challenges in their adult lives as a result."

For two charges of buggery, Pipe was sentenced to 12 and 14 years, to run consecutively.

Other sentences for the other charges, ranging from two to 14 years, are to run concurrently.

The school had the capacity to house 56 boys, up until its closure in 1992.

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