Compensation Claims for Alleged Abuse of Boys at School in India

MANCHESTER, England, October 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Following an investigation featured in BBC's Inside Out, "An Abuse of Trust" programme, Pannone Solicitors has been instructed by the Official Solicitor to pursue claims for compensation on behalf of eight teenage boys who live in Gujarat, Western India, against:

• Derek Sawyer - Former Leader of Islington Borough Council and former chairman of the London Regional Courts Board
• Abdul Osman -  Labour Lord Mayor of Leicester 
• Help a Poor Child - Charity organisation

The eight boys allege that they were sexually abused by Derek Slade their headmaster at the Anglo-Kutchi Medium School where they boarded and supposedly received an English education.

Derek Slade was convicted at Ipswich Crown Court in 2010 and sentenced to twenty-one years' imprisonment for various physical and sexual offences committed on pupils at St George's School in Suffolk where he had previously been headmaster. He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment in 1986 by Chichester Crown Court for having assaulted pupils at Dalesdown School.

The case that the Official Solicitor is bringing is to obtain compensation from the three defendants because it is the victims' case that the Defendants between them "ran" the school and employed Slade. The claim is brought on the basis that the three Defendants owed the boys a duty of care and that meant keeping them safe from harm. It is alleged that this obligation was breached each time the boys were abused by Slade.

Alan Collins partner at Pannone has the conduct of the case explains that the boy's experience at the Anglo-Kutchi Medium School in India if proved would be similar to that suffered by the boys at St George's School in England. 

Said Alan Collins, "We hope that anyone who was approached to donate monies to the school or assist financially in any way will come forward, as they may be able to provide information which may help the victims of Derek Slade."

For further information contact:

Alan Collins
Specialist Child Abuse Solicitor
Email alan.collins@pannone.co.uk 
0800-840-4929