Nicky Campbell calls for extradition of paedophile teacher as beast marks 86th birthday
Broadcaster Nicky Campbell and fellow ex-pupils of paedophile teacher Iain Wares are demanding he is finally extradited from South Africa to face justice as he celebrates his 86th birthday today – still a free man.
Nicky said yesterday: 'He abused boys typically who were around nine years old and, with the help of the South African authorities, he is still doing it.
'He is still breaking the hearts of his victims. It breaks my heart every day.
'I was sexually and physically abused by other teachers at Edinburgh Academy but Iain Wares – who never taught me – is the reason I came forward.
'Seeing him sexually abuse my friend from only a yard or so away in a changing room – the image is with me every day and it breaks my heart every day.
'That's what drove me into the public domain, and the frustration we all feel knowing that it would just take a signature from the South African justice minister to get him on a plane is hard to bear.
'We know South Africa has a chaotic system of justice, but we can't understand why it is standing in the way of an old, white paedophile being sent to face justice. Is it negligence, inefficiency or worse?'
Nicky, 64, said fellow survivor Neil Douglas, who flew to Cape Town in April 2023 to look Wares in the eyes as he faced a charge of sexual abuse in his homeland, had calculated that Wares had abused thousands of boys.
He added: 'Those who were in his classroom were familiar with how he abused and how many boys he targeted in each group, and Neil multiplied that by the number of classes he had taught over all the years of his career.
Timeline
1968
Wares travels to UK from his nativeSouth Africa to get psychological support for paedophilia. He is treated at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
1968-73
He is employed by Edinburgh Academy to teach primary-age boys mathematics. He also coaches sports, including rugby.
1973-79
Moves on to nearby Fettes College, where he continues to teach.
1979-2006
Returns to South Africa and teaches at Rondebosch Boys' School in Cape Town.
2019
The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry hears numerous accounts of alleged physical and sexual abuse carried out by Wares, known as 'Edgar', at both Fettes College and Edinburgh Academy.
2020
Extradition order is signed after the Crown Office decides to charge him with six offences of lewd and libidinous behaviour and an indecent assault.
2022
Delays caused by the Covid pandemic and the complexity of dealing with extradition are exacerbated when Wares is charged with allegedly abusing a boy at Rondebosch.
June 2022
Fettes pays a reported £400,000 compensation to one of Wares's alleged victims at the school.
Dec 2022
Fettes pays a reported £450,000 to a second alleged victim of Wares.
Jan 2023
Former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford uses parliamentary privilege to name 'Edgar' as Iain Wares.
March 2023
With Wares facing more than 80 charges relating to more than 40 alleged victims, Lady Smith, chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, agrees he can be named.
April 2023
Wares appears in court in Cape Town facing abuse charge.
June 2023
Alleged victims plead for justice to move more quickly fearing time will run out for them.
Dec 2024
Delays mean South African case will run into next year.
June 2025
Nicky Campbell demands the extradition of Wares, who turns 86 today.
'He came up with a figure, way into the thousands, and then divided it by ten so that he wouldn't be accused of overestimating it – and it was still in the thousands.
'If Iain Wares is put on trial, we believe he will emerge as the most prolific paedophile in British criminal history.
'All we ask is that he comes here and has a fair trial. If he is found not guilty and goes home, we will find a way to accept that. But he has to face justice and he should have the courage to want that himself. This has been going on for eight years, adding insult to more than 50 years of injury.
'With every passing year, and every birthday he marks as a free man, it looks more and more like he'll be allowed to die in South Africa and that would deny justice to thousands of survivors.'
More than 100 victims have made allegations about Wares's sadistic physical and sexual abuse to Police Scotland and the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI).
Crown Office prosecutors have presented their South African counterparts with a solid case for Wares's extradition and they feel this remains the case even though some charges are incompatible with their law and have been ruled out.
It's understood the accounts of more than 60 victims in the UK are accepted as actionable by the South Africans, yet he remains a free man in a luxury retirement complex just outside Cape Town.
Neil said the delays were further traumatising Wares' victims, and every passing year made justice seem less likely.
He added: 'At least 72 men have complained to police.
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'We know of at least a dozen who have taken their own lives, and I have spoken to many more who cannot face the trauma of reporting his crimes. The barrier to his extradition is a request, on behalf of 65 victims, that has languished on the desk of the minister of justice in South Africa, Mmamoloko Kubayi, for over eight months.
'Were she to sign it, then Interpol could request an arrest warrant from a magistrate.
'The minister has been non-responsive to requests from journalists, campaigners and survivors. We cannot imagine why she would not approve the request to extradite a prolific child abuser and paedophile.'
The South African Ministry of Justice decided last summer, after years of legal arguments, that Wares should be 'extradited soonest' to face
the many charges in Scotland.
But Wares, who admitted his crimes when they were first put to him, and his legal advisers, who effectively tore up his confession, have managed to delay justice for victims.
Wares was described by Nicky as Scotland's Jimmy Savile when the SCAI heard evidence about his abuse of an unprecedented number of pupils at Edinburgh Academy and Tony Blair's old school, Fettes College.
It is understood that if Wares is sent back, he could face the longest indictment ever seen in Scotland.
He now denies all the charges despite admissions of paedophilia in his distant past. The SCIA heard he came to Scotland in 1967 to seek treatment for his paedophilia at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
The psychiatrist who treated him had been a family friend in Cape Town and encouraged him to go into teaching, describing Wares in medical notes as a 'pleasant pederast'. He taught at Edinburgh Academy from 1968 to 1973 before being forced to leave, with a glowing reference, after complaints of sexual assaults on pupils.
As the inquiry heard in 2023, Fettes employed him for six years, even keeping him on after governors learned of his treatment for paedophilia and incidents at the academy, as well as allegations at their school.
A South African group that lobbies for justice, Women and Men Against Child Abuse, has supported the survivors of the Edinburgh schools and recently published an article on its website calling for Wares' extradition.
It said: 'From the 1960s to the early 2000s, Wares operated unchecked in elite boys' schools in the UK and South Africa.
'At Edinburgh Academy and Fettes College, he didn't only molest children, he struck them, humiliated them, manipulated them.'
It added: 'He has not been arrested, he has not been extradited, and the Department of Justice has offered no answers. The men he brutalised are still living with the aftermath.
'While Wares spends his days quietly by the sea, his victims relive moments they've spent a lifetime trying to forget.'
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: 'This has been a complex investigation and COPFS appreciates it has been difficult for all those involved.
'In order to protect any future proceedings and to preserve the rights of the complainers, the Crown will not comment further at this stage.'
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