PAYOUT OVER CHILD ABUSE
Sevenoaks School settles victim’s claim out of court
By Sean-Paul Doran
sean-paul.doran@sevenoaks-chronicle.co.uk

A HISTORICAL sex abuse case involving a high-profile former Sevenoaks School teacher has been settled out of court – but more victims could be set to come forward.
Distinguished former teacher, inventor and philosopher Gerd Sommerhoff, now dead, was alleged to have sexually abused a then-12-year-old boy between 1976 and 1983. The case has been settled for what his lawyer described as a “not-so-insignificant amount”.
However, another victim has told the Chronicle that he knows of at least six more ex-pupils to have been abused by Mr Sommerhoff, who have not yet come forward.

Abused

Stuart Neilson, 49, attended the school from 1975 to 1982 and claims the German-born technology teacher – who died in 2002 – abused him at the age of 12 in his private living quarters.
He said: “I know of at least eight ex-pupils, including myself, but I’m sure there are more given he spent two decades at the school.
“I considered him a friend and I didn’t have many friends at that time so it made me feel special – but he took advantage of that.
“I think there was a culture that people thought it only happened to you if you deserved it – that you must have done something to attract it.”
“In my case, I thought if I can make a police report and tell them what happened to me, then it was out there in public and I’m putting the problem back in the laps of the people who made it – the school.
“My motivation for coming forward isn’t about money – I don’t want that and I don’t need it – but I want the school to acknowledge that this was happening.”
The legal case by the other claimant against the school was brought by Tracey Emmott, a specialist child abuse lawyer who also represented survivors of the Jersey Haut de la Garenne scandal.
She said: “My client has had to live with this throughout his teens and adult life. He reported the
abuse to a number of doctors over the years but no action was taken.
“It is a characteristic of child abuse survivors that they are left emotionally damaged and with an
overwhelming sense of guilt at what took place.
“As with Jimmy Savile, anecdotal evidence suggests that Sommerhoff ’s abuse may have been suspected by those who worked with him. But also as with Savile, perhaps they didn’t act because we seem to find it difficult to believe that public acclaim might hide some very unsavoury characteristics.”
A spokesman for Sevenoaks School said: “The school can confirm that it was contacted by a former pupil about allegations of abuse said to have occurred over 30 years ago.
“Given this concerned events so long ago – and did not relate to any pupils or staff currently at the school – the matter was dealt with by the insurers from that period.”