NICKY - I am 62. I am a survivor. But Dawson's hands are still in my pants. Brownlee's fists are still pummelling my head. And I'm still being tossed about like a rag doll

BROADCASTER'S PAIN AT CHILD ABUSE INQUIRY

- MARCELLO MEGA

BROADCASTER Nicky Campbell compared an abusive teacher to disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Savile as he revealed his school hell.

At the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry yesterday, Nicky gave a full account of batterings and sex attacks he suffered at Edinburgh Academy.

He highlighted the brutality of former teacher Iain Wares, 84, who is alleged to have abused boys at two Edinburgh private schools, including the academy.

BBC Radio 5 Live host Nicky and fellow survivors from his old school in the capital, and neighbouring Fettes College, called for Wares to be extradited from South Africa to face justice.

Victim Nicky, who has waived his right to anonymity, said of Wares: “We are talking about an offender of Savile-esque proportions.

“The BBC ended up with some 450 complaints about Savile. We have details of thousands and thousands of offences by Wares.

“He is the most prolific predatory paedophile, with thousands of victims. They need justice.”

Nicky told the inquiry that teachers in private schools were protected by “the Edinburgh Omerta” – referring to the Sicilian mafia’s code of silence.

He spoke movingly about the abuse he endured and witnessed, and had to stop on a couple of occasions to compose himself.

He told how Wares attacked several pupils and that he witnessed another pupil being sexually assaulted.

Nicky recalled another teacher, Hamish Dawson, who has since died, putting his hands down his pants.

He told of other teachers – including John Brownlee – beating him with fists, feet and wooden bats, and tossing him around “like a rag doll”.