As a result, Keil School, a former mansion situated in rolling green fields sweeping down to the river past playing fields of hockey and rugby pitches,  became a “remarkable example of naivety and false optimism trumping reality.”

Lady Smith said: “Protection of the reputation of the school was prioritised over the interests of children. That was a disgraceful abdication of responsibility. The prevailing culture allowed two paedophiles to operate without fear of discovery.”

She added on: “One of those, William Bain was a physics teacher and house tutor who, whilst employed at Keil between 1987 and 2000, groomed and sexually abused many children.

“He sexually abused some children on hundreds of occasions and did so on an almost daily basis.”

Publication of Lady Smith’s findings had been due to take place earlier this year. However, it was delayed until the outcome of proceedings against Bain. He faced multiple charges of sexually abusing children at a number of schools in Scotland, including Keil.

Two months ago at the High Court in Glasgow, Bain was convicted and sentenced to nine years in jail. However, that was his second trial having previously received six-and-a-half years in May 2016 for similar offences.

Lady Smith added: “The abuse Bain perpetrated persisted for years despite concerns about his behaviour arising early on after a parent complained.

“Inadequate investigation followed and the problem was then covered up by headmaster, Christopher Tongue and other senior staff.

“Despite parents being assured that reports of his behaviour would go on his record, this did not happen and Tongue’s successor as headmaster was never told about it.”

Lady Smith’s findings also state that housemaster, Ian Graham, stands out for his sadistic brutality.

He conducted mass beatings and used the belt excessively in situations where corporal punishment was never merited. His behaviour was known throughout the school but was never addressed or controlled.

Lady Smith’s report added: “For far too long Keil was a school with inadequate senior leadership and a lack of even the most basic of child protection systems to ensure that children in its care were safe.

“Keil is a remarkable example of naivety and false optimism trumping reality with the result that children were abused and in the case of William Bain, abusers had a free rein on a daily basis.”

Another predatory paedophile at the school was David Gutteridge. An English teacher and house tutor at Keil from 1989 to 1991, he abused one particularly vulnerable pupil away from the school having carefully engineered the circumstances.

In September 2024, he was convicted at Forfar Sheriff Court of having indecently assaulted that pupil and sentenced to 17 months imprisonment.

“The following year, at Harrow Crown Court, he was sentenced to a further 18 months’ imprisonment for two charges of indecent assault of a teenage boy in the 1980s. Those offences were committed in England prior to his arrival at Keil.”

The judge added: “The cases of Bain and Gutteridge are examples of a significant outcome of the inquiry’s work, albeit not by design. The promotion of criminal investigations and prosecutions is not part of SCA’s Terms of Reference.

“However, fresh prosecutions of both these paedophiles followed the exposure of their behaviour through the inquiry’s investigations and presentation of evidence, thereby demonstrating that those who abuse children in care may find it catching up with them, even decades later.

“Keil is not the only example of our work having had this effect.”

The school was originally established at Southend near Campbeltown by the Mackinnon-MacNeill Trust with the intention of educating a small number of boys, mainly the sons of farmers and estate owners, from the KIntyre peninsula.

It moved to Dumbarton in the 1920s and it is reported that it became a tough school where boys were expected to develop the ability to endure violence and suffer in silence.

It is also said that by the late 1950s abusive practices were normalised and remained so until the 1980s.

Top of page picture: Keil School in Helenslee Road, Kirktonhill, Dumbarton, as it is today, falling down and partly demolished.