Six-figure damages agreed over boarding school abuse claims
A civil trial, thought to be the first in Scotland involving pupil-on-pupil abuse, had been due to take place at the Court of Session in Edinburgh in early June.
However, Digby Brown Solicitors, representing Mr Bell, said an out of court settlement for a six-figure sum has now been reached.
Loretto School said that, in the school now, child protection, wellbeing and the happiness of all pupils is its 'top priority'.
READ MORE:
'I was in flight mode. Now I'm in fight mode'
Loretto pupil lifts anonymity to sue elite school for £1million
NEIL MACKAY'S BIG READ: 'It was like Lord of the Flies' - Horrific accounts of abuse could be boarding schools' 'MeToo' moment
Mr Bell, who is in his 40s and lives in Canada, said the abuse he suffered was 'life-changing' and previously described it as 'a cross between The Purge and The Running Man'.
Speaking after the settlement was reached, Mr Bell, who has waived his right to anonymity, said: 'I entered Loretto as a tiny, defenceless, 10-year-old boy.
'I endured eight years of abuse, 34 years of post traumatic stress disorder, four and a half years of legal battle and, in the end, that little boy beat the system.'
Loretto was one of a number of boarding schools investigated by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI), which found that some children suffered abuse there.
Pete Richardson, Head of Loretto School, said: 'We can confirm that the matter has been resolved in terms agreed with Mr Bell.
Angus Bell took legal action
'Whilst we do not intend to comment on the detail of matters raised by Mr Bell, what has been averred in the court action is not congruent with our understanding of the experience of others at Loretto at that time.
'The whole question of behaviours in Loretto over the years has been considered in detail by SCAI.
'We continue to support the work of SCAI and, where wrongdoing has been recognised in the past, we have made an unreserved apology – we would encourage anyone with an interest in this matter to look at the excellent work done by SCAI.
'In the Loretto of today, child protection, wellbeing and the happiness of all pupils is our top priority.'
The SCAI, which aims to raise public awareness of the abuse of children in care, is considering evidence up to December 17 2014, and which is within the living memory of any person who suffered abuse.
Richard Pitts, partner at Digby Brown, who led Mr Bell's legal action, said: 'Angus has been strong, calm and resilient throughout his entire journey and I commend him for what he has been able to do because he has not just secured justice for himself – in all likelihood he has opened the doors to help others get the outcome they deserve, too.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
Harvey Weinstein retrial plays out in Manhattan court – will he testify?
In comparable terms of criminal justice, Harvey Weinstein's sexual crimes retrial in a Manhattan criminal court has had little of the fanfare that meets the trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs playing out just steps away in federal court. Combs's trial, on charges of sex-trafficking conspiracy and featuring lurid testimony, has been a hub for content creators, each day lining up outside to deliver their thoughts on the day's evidence. But nearby, Weinstein retrial in Judge Curtis Farber's dingy courtroom exists in a virtual vacuum of attention, though both – one for a fallen movie mogul, in the other a rap entrepreneur – share similarities around issues of sexual consent that, prosecutors allege, crossed over into serious crimes. Five years ago, under the high-wattage glare of the #MeToo movement, a jury convicted Weinstein of one count of rape in the third degree of Jessica Mann, a former aspiring actor, and one count of criminal sexual act in the first degree against Mimi Haley, a former production assistant on Project Runway. That conviction helped cement #MeToo in the popular consciousness of America and the world – a huge victory not just for Weinstein's victims but also for millions of other women who have experienced sexual assault and harassment. Yet that conviction, and subsequent 23-year sentence, was sensationally vacated in April last year on the grounds that New York prosecutors had used testimony from accusers that was unrelated to the charges. A second trial in California two years after his New York retrial had found Weinstein guilty on three of seven charges, including rape and sexual assault. That conviction is now also under appeal on similar grounds. Weinstein, 73, denies ever raping or sexually assaulting anyone. Over the past several weeks, New York prosecutors have rebuilt the first, familiar case before a new jury – with an additional accuser, Kaja Sokola, a model turned actor who alleges she was assaulted by Weinstein in a Manhattan hotel in early 2006. Weinstein is a shadow of the man in the first trial – pale and so sick that Farber agreed to him travelling to court from the prison-hospital wing of Bellevue hospital, and not Rikers Island, the notorious city jail, where he had been held since his first New York conviction was overturned. Weinstein has arrived in court each day in a wheelchair. In opening arguments, prosecutors told jurors that Weinstein exerted 'enormous control' over the film and TV industry, and used that power to offer women scripts, the promise of fame, but then 'used those dream opportunities as weapons'. But each of the three women have faced questions about their relationship with Weinstein before and after the alleged assaults, as well as payouts from a compensation fund. Heather Cucolo, a New York law school professor, said there was not anything new in the defense's approach 'to break down the victim's credibility in a 'he said, she said' scenario of events that are far removed by time'. It is not known whether the prosecutors use of prior bad-act testimony in the first two trials was pivotal to the jury's decision, Cucolo said, but it is difficult to say that the prior conviction in California, now also under appeal, 'isn't somewhere in the minds of the jurors'. On Thursday, as the defense case started, jurors heard from Helga Samuelsen, who shared a New York apartment with Sokola. She testified that Weinstein had visited them in late 2005 and the pair had disappeared into a bedroom for half an hour, countering Sokola's testimony that she never spent time with Weinstein in the apartment prior to the alleged assault. Asked why she was testifying for the defense, Samuelsen said: 'Someone's life is at stake. At least that's my opinion.' The comment was later struck from the court record. Earlier in the trial, accuser Jessica Mann described Weinstein grabbing, dragging, forcefully undressing and raping her in a Beverly Hills hotel room in early 2014. Mann testified that she told Weinstein she had a boyfriend. 'You owe me one more time!' Weinstein shouted, Mann said. In court, Weinstein shook his head. As she left court during a break in her testimony, Mann, 39, turned toward Weinstein and aimed a finger at her eyes and then at him. Weinstein's lead defense attorney, Arthur Aidala, requested a mistrial, arguing that the alleged Los Angeles encounter is not charged by the state. Weinstein is charged with raping Mann on another occasion, in New York in 2013. Mann testified that she had had a consensual, on-and-off relationship with Weinstein, then a Miramax movie producer. The defense lawyers have been brutally aggressive. Aidala has portrayed Mann as an aspiring actor who had only willing sexual encounters with a Hollywood bigwig she thought it could help her. He also raised the question of why Mann had first tried to reject Weinstein's sexual advances but, he said, ultimately pretended to enjoy it. Mann had testified that she gave in because Weinstein wouldn't let her leave, and she faked an orgasm in order to extricate herself. 'Meg Ryan in the restaurant,' Mann said to a question about whether she had lied to her alleged assailant, referring to the famous scene in the film When Harry Met Sally. Outside the presence of jury, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo complained that Aidala's questioning went 'beyond the pale'. Prosecutors have also called expert witnesses to describe the impact of sexual assault trauma on memory recall, the psychology of victim-abuser relationships, and on erectile dysfunction. As the defense continues, the key question is whether Weinstein himself will testify. The producer did not take the stand in either of the first two trials. The New York court of appeals, in overturning the original trial verdict, said Weinstein had been unfairly deterred from exercising his right to testify because the judge had warned him he could be questioned on the uncharged witness testimony. 'It's always risky for a defendant to take the stand, but there are exceptions,' said Cucolo. 'I don't think him taking the stand to claim his innocence would necessarily benefit him. And it would also open him up to prosecutorial cross-examination that would then have the potential to really nitpick, and take apart, any and all things he has said.' Taking the stand in his own defense may not be warranted. In a highly unusual move as the prosecution rested, the rightwing YouTuber Candace Owens released a jail-house interview with Weinstein in which she said she had changed her mind about his culpability, and now believed he was wrongly convicted and had been swept up in the #MeToo movement. 'It definitely looked like the #MeToo movement got so big that they needed to sort of hang somebody, you know?' she said. Weinstein said he now wished he had pushed back harder on the initial claims against him. 'I should have just done a press conference and handled each situation and said, 'This girl is full of shit, and this one here and that, and this and that.' And I ran away from it,' he told Owens. Outside court on Thursday, Aidala was asked how his client thinks the trial is proceeding. 'He thinks that the evidence at this trial has been challenged very forcefully and that many of the complainant stories have been torn apart,' he said. Aidala told reporters that his client is 'seriously contemplating' testifying, but that Weinstein and his defense team were still deliberating the question. It was 'a decision that the client makes, and that overrides the lawyers'. 'We're going to make a game-time, more or less, decision,' he added. Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at
Daily Mail
19 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Bill Maher blasts Cassie saying she CHOSE to stay with Diddy and was 'enthusiastic' about freak-offs
Diddy trial for 'choosing' to stay with the disgraced rap mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs and was 'enthusiastic' about the infamous freak-offs. Maher slammed the singer for her role in Diddy's ongoing trial, and showed text messages Cassie sent Diddy at the time which proved her 'enthusiastic consent' in the freak-offs. 'We need to keep two thoughts in our head at the same time: One, Diddy is a bad dude - really bad. Like, the worst thing in rap since Hammer pants. A violent, sick f*** - I'm sorry, an alleged violent, sick f***. And we should lock him up and throw away the baby oil,' Maher began. 'And two, things have changed enough that moving forward, the rule should be, if you're being abused, you've got to leave right away.' Maher then referred to Cassie and insinuated that her 'enthusiasm' for the freak-offs and long running relationship with Diddy only bolstered his legal defense. 'If Diddy walks free, it will be because his lawyers can point to an endless stream of texts from Cassie expressing what's often called 'enthusiastic consent' to their sex life,' Maher said. 'If you're 'MeToo-ing' someone, it's not helpful to your case if you text him, 'me too!'' The host presented text messages of Cassie's 'enthusiasm', such as one which read: 'I'm always ready to freak off.' 'It's not victim-shaming to expect women to have the agency to leave toxic relationships. Quite the contrary, to not expect that is infantilizing,' Maher declared. 'I understand why it can be difficult for women to leave an abusive relationship, but this should be society's new grand bargain,' Maher said. 'We take every allegation seriously, but don't tell me anymore about your contemporaneous account that you said to two friends ten years ago.' 'Tell the police right away. Don't wait a decade. Don't journal about it. Don't turn it into a one-woman show. And most importantly, don't keep f***ing him. Your only contemporaneous notes about what he did should be a police report.' Maher's take is that with the MeToo movement, women have fewer reasons not to come forward about abuse and leave an abusive relationship. 'We're not in the 'no one listens to women or takes them seriously' era anymore. Operators are actually standing by to take your calls,' he said. The Real Time host declared that there should be a 'new rule,' that 'if you're being abused, you've got to leave right way,' and applied this rule to Cassie as she testifies against Diddy. 'When women felt, for good reason, that 'OG predators' like Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein would never be held accountable, why not at least get something out of it?' he said. 'It was not illogical for an abused women to say, 'Well, if I can't get justice for my pain, can I at least get a receipt? A coupon?'' he continued, insinuating that Cassie was benefiting in her career from their relationship. An emotional and heavily pregnant Ventura broke down on the stand as she testified against Diddy with claims that he raped her, was an out-of-control drug addict, and someone she felt she couldn't leave Maher said that having an 'honest conversation about abuse' must include the realities of 'what people are willing to do for stardom.' 'If you want a No.1 record so bad, you'll take a No.1 in the face, some of that is on you,' he said. 'And if you're doing it for love, well, c'mon, Oprah and Dr. Phil and every podcaster in the world by now have done a million shows about 'abuse is not love' and 'abusers don't change.'' Maher finished his relationship expertise by drawing comparisons from Ike and Tina Turner's relationship, he said: 'R&B singer Ike Turner was a psycho, just like Diddy. But in an era when there was no movement to help her, Tina Turner somehow got away and she did it with 36 cents in her pocket and a mobile card.' His slam on Cassie recieved mixed messages online, with some supporting the host while others finding it out of touch. One comment on X said: 'He's not wrong. There is 0 doubt that Diddy is a pos scumbag & he should've gone to jail for assault & battery. But if Cassie is the star witness on this 'RICO' case, Diddy should be freed today.' 'You can look at this situation from all different directions, maybe she stayed for fame and fortune, maybe she stayed in fear. People will do anything for fame and Fortune, the industry is the devils play ground, in the worst way,' another said. '@billmaher showing his true colors with his acceptance of the psychological warfare and terror of controlling abusive men in the industry and beyond, but especially if you have a lot of money to contribute to the @DNC.' 'Obviously He has no clue how a victim can be mentally like Diddy do it on a grander scale..,' another said. Another wrote: 'Cassie was groomed at a young age; then she was dragged into a culture she was drowning in with no sign of getting out by a complete monster who terrified everyone around him. Let's make @billmaher someone's b*** and see how he likes it, because that's what Cassie was to Diddy.' Maher's brutal analysis comes only days after Cassie welcomed her third child with her husband Alex Fine not long after testifying at Diddy's trial. The Me & U singer welcomed her baby boy on Tuesday at a hospital in New York City, according to TMZ, citing sources with direct knowledge. Insiders say the child arrived slightly ahead of schedule, but Cassie and her newborn are healthy and well. Ventura was around eight months pregnant when she began her horrifying testimony in the trial on May 12. She delivered graphic testimonies alleging that the music mogul physically and psychologically abused her over more than a decade from 2007-2018. She detailed the regular beatings she allegedly experienced, the rapper's use of blackmail and scare tactics to coerce and manipulate, depraved sex acts she claims she was forced to participate in - and the medical toll she suffered as a result. Ventura concluded testifying on May 16, just 11 days before she went into labor. Controversy first publicly grew around Diddy in late 2023, when he quickly settled a sex abuse case Ventura filed against him for a rumored $30million. Multiple properties across the country he owned were raided in March of 2024 and he was arrested six months later in September. In May 2024 Combs' downfall was hastened by the release of a devastating video of him beating Ventura in the corridor of a hotel in Los Angeles in 2016. The video, which was first broadcast by CNN last May, was played in full to the trial before Ventura, a male escort and others gave their testimonies. He has remained incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn awaiting his trial after he was refused bail on multiple occasions. He faces life in prison on five federal charges: racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transporting individuals for prostitution. Combs has plead not guilty to all the charges. His defense team has said the alleged victims are ex-girlfriends who willingly participated in threesomes. In the latest update, Diddy's lawyers asked the judge on Wednesday for a mistrial after arguing the prosecution made an unacceptable suggestion in front of the jury. The defense said it was 'outrageous' when prosecutors appeared to suggest the mogul had destroyed fingerprints taken from Kid Cudi's house after the January, 2012 bombing of his car. Prosecutors had asked LAFD official Lance Jimenez about the fingerprints, and he said the evidence was destroyed in August 2012. Jimenez said 'somebody within LAPD' authorized the destruction of the evidence. This is when Diddy's team objected. 'They know what they were doing,' the defense said of prosecutors. 'They were suggesting that someone in this courtroom has something to do with improper and suspicious destruction of these fingerprint cards and that's outrageous.' The attorneys added: 'The only proper remedy to cure the outrageous prejudice is a mistrial.' However, the defense's motion for a mistrial was denied.
The Independent
3 days ago
- The Independent
Harvey Weinstein's defense case begins in sex crimes retrial. Will he be a witness?
After five weeks of testimony from Harvey Weinstein 's accusers and other prosecution witnesses at his sex crimes retrial, his defense has started presenting its own witnesses. But it's unclear whether the ex-studio boss himself will be one of them. He's due to decide by end of court Thursday whether to testify. If he does, it would be a remarkable twist — and potentially risky legal move — in the yearslong saga of the onetime Hollywood honcho-turned-#MeToo outcast. Weinstein, 73, is being retried on rape and sexual assault charges because New York 's highest court overturned his 2020 conviction. He denies the allegations, and his attorneys maintain that anything that happened between him and his accusers was consensual. Weinstein didn't testify at his original trial. Many defendants in criminal cases don't. The U.S. Constitution guarantees that they don't have to. Jurors are told that they can't hold such silence against defendants and that it's up to prosecutors to prove their case; defendants do not need to prove anything. If defendants do take the stand, they open themselves to pointed questioning from prosecutors. Weinstein's lawyers began calling witnesses late Wednesday, starting with a physician-pharmacist discussing a medication that had come up in testimony. In the weeks prior, the defense asked plenty of questions aimed at raising doubts about the credibility and accuracy of what jurors were hearing from prosecution witnesses, particularly Weinstein's three accusers in the case. Two of the women allege that he forcibly performed oral sex on them, separately, in 2006. The third says he raped her in 2013. All three were trying to build careers in show business and say he preyed on them by dangling work prospects.
