Former Housemaster at Prestigious School Jailed for Abusing Boys As They Slept

ITV
February 5, 2015

http://www.itv.com/news/london/2015-02-05/former-housemaster-at-prestigious-school-jailed-for-abusing-boys-as-they-slept/

David Lowe Credit: PA

61-year-old Lowe put pupils through years of sexual abuse while teaching at two of the country's most prestigious boarding schools.

The tutor sexually assaulted six boys at Westminster Cathedral Choir School and four at Ampleforth College - the leading Catholic school in North Yorkshire - between 1978 and 1984.

David Lowe Credit: PA

Southwark Crown Court heard how Lowe crept around boys' dormitories at night, touching them, as they drifted off to sleep in their beds.

The father-of-five also carried out attacks during piano lessons and even in a sick bay. Many of his victims looked on from the public gallery as their former teacher was jailed for 10 years in what one dubbed 'the worst school reunion ever'.

David Lowe Credit: PA

I cannot ignore that these offences took place in two separate institutions whose reputations may even now be sullied by these revelations and that they took place over a significant period of time.

Some of the boys were as young as eight or nine and many between ten and 11.

All of them were entrusted to your care as a member of staff at each school. That trust was seriously betrayed by what you did.

Your responsibility was to protect their welfare, not to damage it.

– MARTIN BEDDOE, JUDGE

David Lowe Credit: PA

One victim, a former pupil at Westminster Cathedral Choir School, told police he was among 'a select group of boys' asked to sing at Lowe's wedding in 1981.

Later that year, he said he was sexually assaulted in Lowe's car after he was invited to visit him in Yorkshire. A former Ampleforth student said Lowe had a 'mad-scientist look' and subjected him to 'painful' and 'bizarre' abuse during music lessons.

Lowe denied a string of sex attacks and was supported by his wife, Ursula, throughout the trial.

But he visibly crumpled last month when a jury of seven women and five men found him guilty of all 15 indecent assaults.

David Lowe had a small group of pupils that he was extra-friendly with. He would leave sweets in his locker and notes, [like], 'You're very special, you deserve this, enjoy'.

– PHILIP BENNETTS, PROSECUTOR

Westminster Cathedral Choir School is based in Victoria, central London, while Ampleforth College, near York, is famous for being run by Benedictine monks.