Boarding school employee jailed for sexual abuse

Maurice Lambell has been jailed for historical sexual abuse

A former staff member of a boarding school who sexually abused five boys there has been jailed for 25 years.

Maurice Lambell was sentenced after failing to turn up to a 3 October hearing where his co-accused Keith Figes was jailed for 27 years.

Lambell, an ex-pupil of Berrow Wood School in Worcestershire, returned as an employee in 1970 when he was a teen.

Jailing him at Worcester Crown Court, Judge Martin Jackson said "brutality and sadism reigned supreme" there.

Berrow Wood in Pendock, between Tewkesbury and Malvern, opened in 1966 for "maladjusted" boys, who were sent there by social services from areas across England, sometimes more than 100 miles from home.

One man who was sexually abused by Lambell said he now avoided Pendock "like the plague".

Lambell, 69, of Wigan, who carried out his abuse between 1970 and 1974, had denied 30 historical offences but was found guilty by a jury.

He was aged between 16 and 19 during the period in question, according to his defence team, which told the court Lambell had himself been abused while a pupil there.

The school shut in 1992.

Lambell had failed to turn up to an earlier sentencing hearing

Warning - Some readers may find details in this article upsetting

When Lambell returned as a staff member, he began work in the laundry room.

He then adopted the unofficial title of "housefather" - a pastoral position that he and Figes both abused for their own sexual gratification by grooming boys as young as 10, the court heard.

Much of Lambell's offending happened in a caravan in which he stayed onsite.

One attack happened in the school's boot room during which the victim was tied up and made to stand on a stall.

"Clearly he was damaged by the school, behaviour seemed to have become normalised, somewhat like 'monkey sees monkey does'," Lambell's barrister said.

When sentencing, Judge Jackson said he had to take into account Lambell's age at the time of the offences.

But he added the crimes still took a great deal of planning and had caused "physiological harm that no one deserves".

• The abusive school where boys were just a number

The court learned that one victim found the abuse he suffered was constantly on his mind, while others had had a life of addiction, imprisonment and self harm.

"I hate myself," one victim said.

Berrow Wood School shut in 1992

The court heard how Lambell left Berrow Wood three times after questions were raised about his behaviour, yet he was able to continuously return.

After his time at the school ended, he continued to have a life of crime and went to prison for theft, however, his defence said in mitigation, unlike Lambell's co-accused Figes, he was never convicted for crimes of a sexual nature, despite "unfortunate material" being found on his laptop in 2000.

Judge Jackson said such material showed how Lambell still had an "unhealthy interest in young boys".

Lambell, originally from Plymouth, said he had not turned up for his original sentencing hearing on 3 October due to an episode of self harm.

He had been granted bail prior to that hearing date to get his affairs in order but was arrested after breaking his conditions.

At least two of Lambell's victims were also abused by Figes, the court heard.

The jailed pair are the eighth and ninth staff members to be convicted of abuse at Berrow Wood School.

In 1993, six men were convicted of physical abuse against boys at the school, while Barry Hastings was jailed for sexual abuse in 2019.