Former Loretto School pupil Angus Bell has described the abuse he says he endured at the Scottish boarding school in the 1990s as “worse than Lord of the Flies”. His account matters because it follows a successful legal claim against the school and findings by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry that children were abused in its care, highlighting alleged failures of safeguarding and oversight at a prominent institution.

Bell says older pupils inflicted routine physical, psychological and sexual abuse on younger boys, including beatings, humiliation and dangerous assaults. He attended Loretto from ages 10 to 18, says he was assaulted thousands of times over roughly 2,000 days, and accepted a six-figure settlement after more than four years of legal action; the school said it recognises suffering caused by historic abuse and is committed to providing a safe environment.