THE house father at a school for emotionally disturbed children was
jailed for five years yesterday for sexually abusing five girls
entrusted to his care.
Adrian Batty's offences, which took place some years ago, came to
light only last year when one of his victims, now a mother, felt
something had to be done in case other children were at risk.
Batty, 42, of Beechway, Forres, Moray, was convicted after trial at
Dingwall Sheriff Court of five indecency charges against the girls, aged
between 13 and 16, at the school in the Highlands.
Sheriff David Crowe felt that his sentencing powers were inadequate
and sent the case to the High Court in Edinburgh for sentence. He also
criticised the school for being ''naive'' in employing an unqualified
man and allowing him to supervise young girls overnight.
Mrs Valerie Stacey, Advocate-depute, told Lord Ross, the Lord Justice
Clerk, that Batty was a first offender. The offences were all committed
at the residential school which took children with emotional problems,
including victims of sexual abuse.
Batty frequently went into the girls' bedrooms, ostensibly to read
them stories, then interfered with them.
For a variety of reasons, none of the victims reported what had
happened to them at the time. For example, one girl had been sexually
abused at home before she was sent to the school and thought that no-one
would believe her if she reported Batty. She had suffered years of
no-one believing her.
After the five-year sentence, a spokesman for the school said that
changes in the school's management systems meant that the likelihood of
this kind of incident happening again was ''greatly minimised''.
In particular, night cover arrangements had been expanded to the
satisfaction of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools.
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