CULLEN INQUIRY

WEDNESDAY, 26th JUNE, 1996.
TWENTY-FIRST DAY.

LORD CULLENLINK: Mr. Bonomy, I think we are without Mr. Jones today, so you can proceed.

MR. BONOMY: Thank you, sir.  I have had brought to my attention a witness who claims to have been abused by Hamilton.  This is the first such evidence that has come to light.  He is unwilling to be identified.  I have given anxious consideration to the question whether an anonymous written statement of his evidence should be read to the Inquiry.  The view I have formed, with some hesitation, is that that is the appropriate course in the circumstances, albeit it is not an ideal course.  I also consider it appropriate to advise the Inquiry that there are certain matters mentioned in the statement peripheral to the meat of the statement that one might expect would be corroborated by independent evidence.  Efforts have been made to try to corroborate that without any success.

You should also be advised, sir, that the witness has in the past been convicted of a serious crime of dishonesty.  That is a full account of the background, and with your leave, sir, I propose to invite MrLake to read the statement.

LORD CULLEN: Yes -- Mr Lake?

MR LAKE: This is the anonymous statement --

"When I was about 12 and living at home I attended a Boys' Club called the Rovers Group at Bannockburn High School, which was run by Thomas Hamilton.  I think I got to know about it through certain leaflets that came through the letter box.  I attended that for about four weeks.  I remember that on two occasions we got to shoot guns at the Club in Dunblane.  This Club wasn't at the school but in a hut on the other side of the dual carriageway.  We shot with real rifles with bullets, not pellets.  Hamilton picked us up and took us to Dunblane.  We once went to the High School in Dunblane and joined in with that Club.  It was a gymnastics Club.

"When the summer came, a trip was organised to go and stay on a boat.  I got permission to go to it and Hamilton sent a letter home setting out the details of the camp trip, boat, how much money we needed etc.

"The holiday was to last for about a week or a week and a half and we were staying on a cabin cruiser on Loch Lomond.  There were about eight boys of my age involved.  The only boy I remember being there was my sister's boyfriend.  I don't know who the other boys were but we were all specially chosen from the Bannockburn Club.

"One day I remember that I was particularly frightened because Hamilton was tying a rope round us, one at a time, and throwing us off the side of the boat and then pulling us back in.  I cannot now remember what the purpose of this manoeuvre was, but I remember being very frightened and I refused to take part and pretended that I was ill and stayed in the cabin.

"That night I was told to report to his cabin.  The boys all slept together at the back of the boat and Hamilton slept in his own cabin.  I eventually went in.  I only had on my underpants.  He had a sort of telescopic pointer device which you would use to point to a map or a chart and he was pointing this at me and he told me that I had better behave.  He began to touch me between my legs and my private parts and I was very scared.  I started to cry.

"He told me to stop crying or I would be hit with the pointer.  While all this was going on he was only dressed in shorts.  I was then told to lie down on his bed and I was lying facedown.  He started to push his fingers into my backside.  By this time he had his shorts off and his penis was erect.  He was rubbing it.  He was also stroking my back and asked if I liked it.  At one point I was crying and he banged this pointed device down at the side of my face.  It didn't actually touch me, but hit the pillow.  I lay there frozen stiff with fear.  He then told me to stand up and face the wall and again he ran his hand up and down my back and he was breathing heavily.

"I was then allowed to go.  I was terrified, and then the next day I phoned my mother and asked if I could come home.  All I did was to tell her I was homesick.  I couldn't tell her what took place.  I came home at the same time as everyone else.  It was too far away for me to come home early.  He didn't touch me again during the period of this holiday although I was very frightened of him.

"I can't be more specific about the year this happened.  I do remember though that the boat blew up about a week after the trip.

"I do agree, however, that what he did to me should be known about.  It has affected me badly and has always troubled me."                                           Return to IndexLINK

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thomas Minogue
94 Victoria Terrace
Dunfermline
Fife
KY12 0LU
Tel: 01383 729869
e-mail: tomminogue@btinternet.com

The Right Hon. Lord Gill
The Lord Justice Clerk
Parliament House
Edinburgh
EH1 1RQ
Saturday 7th June 03

Dear Sir,

Complaint regarding alleged irregularities at Queen Victoria School Dunblane 1989-96.

With reference the above document which was submitted to you on 24th April 03, and your response to that document of 6th June the following comments must be made:

“I have now completed my detailed study of the dossier that you sent me”.  It is noted that your study has been extensive which is exactly what you promised in your letter of 30th April, however it is disappointing to note that your comments regarding the complaint suggests that your study, however detailed, has missed the main points made in that document.

“I am unable to reach a definite conclusion on your complaints on the information that you sent me and I am in no position to carry out an investigation of my own”.

It is fully appreciated that you, as an individual, are limited in what you could achieve personally and would not be able to reach definite conclusions from the complaint.  However it was hoped that as a very senior law officer and a Commissioner of QVS, perhaps chosen for that reason, you would be ideally placed to decide what action would be appropriate.  It was anticipated that in such grave circumstances you might have instigated a judicial inquiry or requested that the Lord Advocate or Solicitor General so do.

“I infer from you (sic) dossier that the police and the prosecuting authorities have decided to take these matters no further”.

There is no basis to make an inference that the allegations made in the complaint document have been even considered by the police and the prosecuting authorities.  The allegations made in the complaint document repeat, but are not limited to earlier allegations made by the ex-housemaster of abuse and bullying.  These were not investigated by the relevant authorities.  This fact is indisputable and is best witnessed by the then Education Minister, James Douglas-Hamilton who at page 32 of 144 of the complaint document stated:

“Throughout their enquiry the primary concern of HMI was to investigate the situation in the school in relation to pastoral care and pupil supervision rather than to investigate specific allegations of bullying”.

The Minister does not mention the allegations of abuse made by the ex-housemaster but it goes without saying that these allegations are included in the matters that were not investigated.

In addition to the matters that were detailed by the ex-housemaster but not investigated, are matters regarding the Commissioners and their dereliction of duty in allowing Thomas Hamilton unfettered access to Queen Victoria School.  These matters simply cannot have been investigated.

“It is a question for Her Majesty’s Commissioners whether they will wish to take any action as the governing body of the school.  The next meeting of Her Majesty’s Commissioners will take place on Monday 16 June.  I have requested that your complaint shall be an agenda item at that meeting”.

As the actions or rather the lack of action by HM Commissioners forms part of the complaint to you, the suggestion that the same Commissioners (or some of them) responsible for allowing a mass murderer to enjoy the run of QVS should decide what further action should be taken against themselves is more than a little puzzling.  There is doubt that such a suggestion would engender any confidence in the parents of children who had attended the school during the period in question, that the requisite duty to care was being properly exercised.

It is noted that you have not seen fit to address the concerns clearly expressed regarding your Masonic status.  The terms of what is a very serious complaint were clearly expressed.  Your failure to address these concerns and the question of your Masonic status leave me to conclude that you have failed to appreciate my concern, or the serious nature of the complaint, and unless you intimate by return that you are willing to revise your proposed action I will have no option but to present my complaint to the Solicitor General in the hope that she may find that it warrants a full and thorough independent investigation.

Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue.
C.C. The Patron, The Chairman of the Board of Management.         Return to IndexLINK

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

By E-mail and letter am Monday 9th June.
Thomas Minogue
94 Victoria Terrace
Dunfermline
Fife
KY12 0LU
Tel:01383 729869

Mrs Elish Angiolini QC
The Solicitor General for Scotland [Ed ~ who would become Lord Advocate on 05.10.06.]
The Crown Office
25 Chambers Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1LA
Saturday 14th June 03

Dear Mrs Angiolini,

Complaint regarding allegations of abuse and bullying at Queen Victoria School Dunblane.

I would be obliged if you would accept the attached file and consider it as a formal complaint.  The matters contained in the file are of a serious nature and concern allegations of abuse and bullying at Queen Victoria School Dunblane in the early 1990's and the supervision of the school at that time.

I had originally lodged this complaint with Lord Gill who is a Commissioner of the school but for the reasons set out at pages 144-147 of the complaint document find that this avenue of complaint is not satisfactory to me.  I would also point out that as the allegations contain a Masonic content I would ask for your assurance that anyone supervising or having a role in this investigation has no connections with Freemasonry.

Since e-mailing you I have received a letter from Central Scotland Police asking me to urge the ex-housemaster to make a complaint to them directly.  I enclose this letter and my response to the police letter, which sets out my reasons for not agreeing that their suggestion would be practicable.  I would not pretend to be an expert on the various options of investigation open to you but would have thought that the first step would be to trace and obtain statements from pupils who were at Queen Victoria School at the time of the alleged physical and sexual abuse to ascertain if these incidents did in fact take place and if Thomas Hamilton was involved.

Yours faithfully
Thomas Minogue.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *