Teacher 'orchestrated' rape of boy, court told

Warning: This article contains distressing details.

A former boarding school teacher "orchestrated" the rape of a boy by a fellow pupil, a court has been told.

Derek Barker, 92, denies eight sexual offences against four boys at Monkton Combe School in Bath, Somerset, where he taught in the 1970s and 1980s.

Jurors at Bristol Crown Court heard evidence from the first complainant who told police another pupil told him to attend Barker's private flat within the school grounds where he was sexually abused by an older boy while the defendant allegedly watched.

The complainant said: "He wasn't abusing me. He was present and he built the setting, made it possible, so I would say orchestrated it, but he didn't do anything physically to me."

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The man told police in a video interview played to jurors on Tuesday that the older boy told him to take his trousers off so he could massage his leg before he removed his underwear and proceeded to rape him.

He added that Barker watched the incident and was "enjoying himself", but did not have any other involvement.

The man said Barker then told him to get dressed and go to his lessons, which he did.

He told police the abuse was repeated on a number of occasions.

Tabitha Macfarlane, defending Barker, said he denies being present during the incidents, and denies he masturbated or that he organised what happened.

The complainant, who contacted police in 2022, told jurors he had wanted an apology from Barker but had not received one.

"I didn't want to go to the police, I didn't want a court case like this, I didn't want more trauma for me and no doubt anyone else who is involved," he said.

The defendant, from Limpley Stoke in Wiltshire, resigned from the school in the 1980s citing ill health, after he allegedly asked another pupil to tie him to a bed wearing just his underwear.

Jurors were told the pupil took a photograph of Barker, which was developed in the school's photographic lab and removed by another teacher.

Barker denies three charges of buggery, relating to him allegedly "aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring" the buggery of the complainant by the older boy - who died before police launched an investigation.

He also denies three charges of indecency with a child and two charges of indecent assault.

The trial continues.

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