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THE BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH · 23-29 NOVEMBER 2009

Abuse claims at West

Yorkshire school

More former pupils have contacted solicitors representing alleged victims of abuse at a West Yorkshire school after police questioned three men in their sixties on claims of sexual and physical assaults going back to the 1970s. And an ex-employee has claimed William Henry Smith School (WHSS) in Rastrick, Brighouse failed to investigate an assault on a pupil he claims he witnessed just two years ago.

WHSS is a non-maintained residential special school set up in 1920. According to its website it “provides high quality education and care for boys with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties”.

In the summer West Yorkshire Police quizzed three men in connection with alleged sexual and physical assaults dating back 30 years before releasing them on bail pending further investigations.

One former pupil, Mark Edson of Selby, believes some former pupils have received compensation, although he wasn’t one of them.

The law firm representing the former pupils, Verisona of Hampshire, wouldn’t confirm this. But Alan Collins,  the solicitor working on the claims, said: “Media coverage has led to more ex-pupils contacting us. Usually in cases like this one most people don’t come forward so I am still looking for witnesses prepared to talk to me about the allegations as I wonder if we are still not getting the entire picture of the full extent of the abuse.”

Lee Varey from Halifax was a maintenance worker at the school from 2004 until he quit in 2007. He was impressed by the dedication of the staff and therefore “left bitterly disappointed when senior staff members failed to properly investigate an attack I reported on a young man aged 16 in which he was punched four or five times by a staff member”.

Varey, who claims this contributed to him leaving his post, said: “No one took a statement from him even though there were many staff that knew I was unhappy about what happened.”

WHSS was unwilling to respond to questions about Varey’s claims and whether it had carried out an investigation into them, issuing a statement saying: “Any such matters would be protected by Data Protection and as such we are unable to make any comment.