Judge finds John Young assaulted pupils as young as 10 while head of PE between 1966 and 1993
A former teacher has been found guilty of 26 offences of sexual and physical assault against boys at one of Scotland’s best-known private schools.
A judge sitting at Edinburgh sheriff court ruled on Monday that John Young, known widely as Jake Young, deliberately and gratuitously assaulted boys as young as 10 while he was head of physical education at Edinburgh Academy.
Sheriff Iain Nicol said in one case Young, now 91 and a former international rugby referee, carried out a “harrowing” assault on a boy whom he repeatedly kicked and punched while the child was recovering from a spinal injury.
The boy, who was 12 and walked with a visible limp because of the injury, pleaded with Young during a PE class that he was unable to pick up some weights as ordered, prompting Young to lash out at his head and kick him, causing “substantial pain”.
