Edinburgh Academy Survivors' Group's statement outside court

Edinburgh Evening News

Edinburgh Academy Survivors' Group giving a statement outside Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday, August 11, after a headteacher of physical education at the prestigious private Edinburgh school was found to have carried out a shocking 27 year campaign of abuse against pupils.

Transcript

00:00where I speak collectively on behalf of all the men who were abused as boys by Jake Young.

00:08The determination today from Sheriff Nicoll has blown the final whistle for the former

00:14international rugby referee and teacher of physical education at the Edinburgh Academy.

00:21This will now provide some comfort for all those boys, some as young as 10 years old

00:27and many of whom were never believed at the time. This examination of facts has shown that Mr Young

00:35committed acts of cruelty and to have physically and mentally terrified boys that he was entrusted

00:43to look after during his 27-year tenure at the school. His violent, emotional and libidinous acts

00:52are now a matter of public record. The fact that numerous men came forward many decades later

01:01show the severity and lifelong impact that childhood abuse has had throughout their lives with many

01:09waiting over 50 years for justice to be served. As a group we would collectively like to thank Police

01:18Scotland and the Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service for their dedication to this inquiry. But once more

01:27this will send out a very, very clear signal that never again will the harmful treatment of children

01:35be tolerated. And crucially that the significant passage of time

01:41is of no barrier to holding those guilty to account.

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