Rochdale inquiry: Cyril Smith victim ‘spanked by headteacher’ over abuse accusations

Cyril Smith

A pupil was ‘spanked by a school headteacher’ after accusing Cyril Smith of sexual abuse, day six of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) heard on Monday (16 October).

For decades throughout his career, the former MP was the subject of repeated sex abuse claims. He was knighted in 1988, and died in 2010 aged 82, having never faced prosecution.

The witness, known only as A7, told the inquiry he was first sent to Knowl View School in 1969 when he was ten years old, and later returned during the 1970s until he was 16. He shared a dormitory – ‘Nirvana’ – with older boys and described the environment as “chaotic”.

The inquiry heard of an incident on Christmas Day at Knowl View when Smith ‘screamed and shouted’ at A7.

He said he had “no idea” why Smith shouted at him but remembered crying because he “did not know what was going on.”

Subsequently, Smith then took the boy onto his knee and proceeded to “put my hand on his penis” ‘outside his trousers’, the witness said. Smith, who was fully clothed, was then disturbed by a member of staff, who asked the child if he was okay, the inquiry was told.

“Somehow”, then head teacher John Turner came to hear of the incident, and “was furious” with A7.

A7 claimed Mr Turner accused him of “ruining Smith’s career” before demonstrating his anger by spanking him in front of other pupils in the school gymnasium, the inquiry heard.

The victim added how he felt he was removed from the school “for making the accusations” against Smith when he was sent to several other institutions before returning to Knowl View.

Smith ‘did not need a key’ to Knowl View School because ‘the doors were mostly unlocked’, the inquiry was told. The former MP was also ‘treated like royalty’ whenever he visited.

The alleged victim told how the school ‘was not secure’ and ‘people could come and go as they pleased’, including the pupils. He added how the teaching was ‘mostly inadequate or non-existent’ and the ‘good people left straight away.’

The inquiry also heard how a teacher, David Higgins, who ran camping trips and youth hostelling, similarly allegedly sexually abused A7.

The witness said: “He was always molesting me. Put his hands in my sleeping bag, putting his hands in my bed, he would watch me shower, tell me how to masturbate in the shower. At the time, I was only ten years old. I just thought I was washing myself.”

The inquiry heard how Higgins touched A7 not only on camping trips, but when he was ‘on night watch’ and ‘fire watch’. He allegedly would then touch A7, ‘to make sure I am not wetting myself’, he said.

Higgins would also allegedly watch and take photographs of A7 in the shower.

The victim told how Higgins left Knowl View suddenly around 1971, ‘about a week after’ an incident in his room.

He recalled: “I remember him being on top of me, I could feel his dirty, stubbly beard on my face. He was trying to kiss me and then my mind goes bank. All I can remember is running down the corridor. Going too far.”

A rumour also went around the school that Higgins had raped a boy, referred to as B201, the inquiry heard.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/87578/david-higgins-a-predatory-paedophile-back-behind-bars

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/102373/david-higgins-charged-with-indecent-assaults-on-boys-at-knowl-view

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/105706/knowl-view-sex-abuse-case-against-david-higgins-dropped 

The inquiry also heard how ‘other, older’ boys also sexually assaulted A7, both inside and outside the school.

Brian Altman QC said: “You remembered they could be violent to you and hurt you.”

The inquiry also heard how a female teacher or housekeeper at the school also sexually abused A7.

He said: “She taught me how to French kiss and love bites. She used to bath me, buy me new clothes. Give me gifts and things like that.”

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) opened an inquiry into alleged abuse which took place in Rochdale at Cambridge House Hostel and Knowl View residential school, when Smith was a governor:

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/113113/rochdale-inquiry-alleged-cyril-smith-victim-%E2%80%98denied-urgent-medical-care-until-politician-had-finished-fondling-him%E2%80%99

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/113087/rochdale-inquiry-alleged-victim-came-facetoface-with-cyril-smith-on-wedding-day

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/113030/rochdale-inquiry-mi5-knew-of-cyril-smith-coverup-press-lie/

The inquiry continues.