Posted: 22:00, 29 August 2022 | Updated: 23:47, 29 August 2022
Three headteachers at a leading state school have resigned over their handling of an allegation of sexual misconduct, the Daily Mail can reveal. Parliamentary standards commissioner Catherine Stone, a former police chief and leading criminal law barrister, has resigned after Repton School refused to sack a teacher despite a claim by a former pupil. The Derbyshire school, where boarders pay more than £40,000 a year and which counts Roald Dahl and Jeremy Clarkson among its alumni, said its handling of the matter was supported by two independent expert reviews. But a letter written by Sue Fish, a former chief constable of Nottinghamshire, to the chairman of governors, Mark Shires, said she had no choice but to resign because of the teacher’s continued employment. The document, seen by the Mail, said the decision means the school’s “protection of past, present and future pupils is now at risk and lacks credibility”. Repton strongly denied this in the series, which comes after a separate case in which a former teacher was jailed for seven years and 11 months in March for abusing pupils at the school in the 1990s. Three governors have resigned after Repton School (pictured) refused to sack a teacher who admitted indecent assault charges Simon Clague, 55, admitted charges of indecent assault. He had intimate relationships with three teenage girls, Derby Crown Court heard. Repton said he was “deeply sorry” for failing to protect his victims, adding that any former pupils who want to contact the institution “will be taken extremely seriously”. This prompted someone to claim that a teacher who was still there had engaged in sexual activity with two friends around the same time. It is understood the former pupil did not name those friends, was not prepared to speak formally to police and the school received no further information. Ms Fish claims the teacher’s records revealed “a horrendous list” of alleged past misconduct. It is understood that Repton felt that the allegations referred to were unfounded rumors that had been fully investigated. The school is also believed to have considered any risk to pupils and legal advice suggesting the dismissal would be unlawful. The third governor to resign was Tim Hannam QC. He and Ms. Stone did not respond to requests for comment, and Ms. Fish declined to comment further.
