Daughter of 'paedophile teacher' brands her father 'disgusting'

‘I can’t bear his blood inside me’: Daughter of ‘paedophile teacher’ accused of abusing Nicky Campbell brands her father ‘disgusting’ as BBC star says he would strip and abuse boys in dorms in front of their friends

• Nicky Campbell revealed the abuse he suffered at Edinburgh Academy in 1970s
• He met with the daughter of his alleged abuser who spoke of childhood ‘terror’ 

The daughter of a ‘paedophile teacher’ accused of abusing countless boys at a top Edinburgh boarding school – including BBC presenter Nicky Campbell – has said she ‘cannot bear’ the fact that his blood is inside her.  

Jenny Pearson, 64, said she would have ‘some form of transfusion’ to remove any trace of her father – Hamish Dawson – if it were possible, before branding him ‘disgusting’ and an ‘abomination’.

Broadcaster Mr Campbell revealed the true horror of Dawson’s alleged crimes last summer, when he detailed the abuse he had suffered as a schoolboy at the Edinburgh Academy almost 50 years earlier. 

Since then, almost 100 other men have come forward with similar allegations of abuse against Dawson, as well as other teachers, at the fee-paying school throughout the 1970s.  

Commenting for the first time about her late father, who died in 2009, Mrs Pearson said it was ‘repulsive’ and ‘shameful’ to be his daughter, The Mirror reports.

She added: ‘It’s appalling… it’s disgusting. I’ve spent my whole professional life fighting for the rights of children and young people.’

Broadcaster Nicky Campbell says in addition to the abuse he suffered from Hamish Dawson, he witnessed another teacher ‘Edgar’ abuse male pupils at Edinburgh Academy in the 1970s

Jenny Pearson, 64, said she would have ‘some form of transfusion’ to remove any trace of her father – Hamish Dawson (pictured together at her wedding in 1980) – if it were possible, before branding him an ‘abomination’

READ MORE: South African police arrest teacher, 83, accused of being paedophile who preyed on boys at schools attended by Tony Blair and BBC presenter Nicky Campbell

Mrs Pearson, who now works as a therapist, reached out to Mr Campbell after he named her father among three teachers who were said to be involved in child abuse.

She has since devoted herself to helping victims who were abused at her father’s school, revealing that she has spent hours on the phone with many of them. 

Speaking on Mr Campbell’s BBC Radio 5 podcast Different, Mrs Pearson said she felt ‘morally compelled’ to do something and said the conversations were extraordinary. 

‘It probably sounds bizarre to say – but they were wonderful,’ she said.

‘We spoke the same language from different perspectives.’

Mrs Pearson moved into the Edinburgh Academy boarding houses when she was seven, before leaving home when she turned 18 and never looking back. 

Her father and her family were living in the same building as the dorms where the boarding pupils slept. 

Mrs Pearson recalled how her father would go through the fire doors every evening and not return until the next day, adding: ‘From 14 to 19 I never saw my father… he was always with the boys.’

During their conversation, Mr Campbell reveals to Mrs Pearson how, when he was 12 or 13, her father would call boys to the front of the class, place them over his knee and stroke their penis. 

Another survivor told Mr Campbell that Dawson would brazenly abuse boys in the dorms, stripping them in front of their peers before tying them to the bed and assaulting them.  

Mrs Pearson admitted that it did not come as a ‘total shock’ when she learnt that her father was a sexual and physical abuser of children, although she was not aware of ‘the extent’. 

The broadcaster, pictured as a child, said he could never talk about the abuse he suffered at Edinburgh Academy while his parents were alive as they ‘sacrificed’ so much for him to attend 

Edinburgh Academy, where dozens of boys were abused in the 1970s, has since issued a public apology and says it is cooperating with police

She added: ‘I always knew he used to wallop the boys because he used to walk about with the slipper he used. I now know he used other things.’

She also described the ‘terror’ of her childhood in which she suffered violent abuse at the hands of her father.

She received emotional abuse from her mother, too, who died five years after him. 

Mrs Pearson added that she later found ‘horrific’ material in relation to women slaves on her father’s computer after his death and has since spent hours speaking to his victims. 

Mr Campbell first revealed the sexual abuse he had suffered from Dawson in an interview with BBC Breakfast last July. 

Now that Dawson is dead, Mr Campbell has been concentrating his efforts on bringing another alleged abuser named ‘Edgar’ to justice, who is proving difficult to extradite from his home in South Africa.

‘I think it’s an absolute scandal that the extradition process is kind of like yeah whatever,’ he said. 

‘[Edgar] could well be one of the most prolific paedophiles in British criminal history if you do the maths and look at how long he taught and how many schools he was at.’ 

He claimed that in 1971, aged ten, he witnessed the man – who is being investigated for more than 20 child abuse allegations under the ongoing Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry – abusing one of his friends in Edinburgh Academy’s showers after rugby training. 

‘My friend is laughing but I know from the fear in it that it’s not a good laugh,’ Mr Campbell recounted. ‘When we walk to the bus stop we don’t even talk about it and we’d never tell.’

The former Watchdog presenter added he ‘couldn’t have spoken about the school’ when his mother and father ‘were alive’ because of the sacrifices they made to send him to the fee-paying institution.

He also called on a change of the rules for private schools who are not subject to the same safeguarding requirements as state schools.

Mr Campbell spoke about witnessing and experiencing sexual and violent physical abuse as a young schoolboy

Mr Campbell added: ‘There is no mandatory reporting in the private sector and you think now with our understanding and sensibilities there would be.

‘Schools like that fostered a culture of omerta and not telling and keeping the secrets and these are the people who have been running the country.’

After Mr Campbell went public with the allegations, other former pupils of Edinburgh Academy and Fettes College stepped forward with stories of abuse.

Edinburgh Academy has since issued a public apology and say it is cooperating with police.

In a statement to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, Fettes College – whose alumni include former PM Tony Blair – made a ‘full and unreserved apology’.

It said: ‘While words of apology may have limited worth, we fully accept and recognise in the past there was sexual, physical and emotional abuse of pupils while at Fettes College.’

Edgar, who lives in a retirement complex in Cape Town, was arrested in South Africa in 2019 by British Police and is due to appear in court on March 17 for a further extradition hearing.

He told a previous court hearing that he moved to Edinburgh from South Africa in 1967 to seek treatment after experiencing ‘urges’ to touch boys in the school he worked at after graduating, The Times reports.

• The BBC 5 Live Different podcast with Nicky Campbell is on BBC Sounds

Source: Read Full Article