Two former Witherslack Hall staff guilty of assaults

Roger Whitehouse, left, and Alec Greening worked at the school in the 1970s and 80s

Two former teachers have been convicted of cruelty charges against pupils at a residential school.

Roger Whitehouse, 78 and Alec Greening, 69, worked at Witherslack Hall, a boys' school at Grange-over-Sand in Cumbria.

They each denied child cruelty charges in relation to separate incidents dating back more than 40 years.

But they were convicted by a jury at Carlisle Crown Court after a four-week trial, which had heard evidence from two former pupils.

A police investigation was launched in 2014 after two men came forward to say they had been assaulted at the school in the 1970s and 1980s.

Shoes and socks

One told how Whitehouse came to collect him after he had left school grounds without permission.

He was taken to a local quarry, where Whitehouse told him to remove his shoes and socks. He was then "prodded and pushed" along a quarry track, the jury heard.

A second former pupil told the jury that Greening made him wear only a PE kit outside in the snow as a punishment for smoking.

Judge James Adkin granted bail to Whitehouse, of Sea View, Haverigg, and Greening, of Dalton, near Burton-in-Kendal, ahead of a sentencing hearing on 25 January.

He told the pair: "Simply because I am adjourning the case doesn't mean I have made a decision about what the sentence will be.

"All options will be available."

Whitehouse was earlier acquitted of one other child cruelty allegation, and two alleged assaults.

Three other former teachers were also acquitted of single assault charges.