Five charged over historical assaults at former boarding school in Cumbria

Five men have been charged with assaults at a former boarding school for boys in Cumbria.

The alleged historical offences are said to have taken place at Underley Hall School in Kirkby Lonsdale.

Cumbria Police said the charges were part of its Operation Tweed investigation – launched in July 2014 – into reports of non-recent abuse in residential schools in the south of the county.

Errol Mayer, 72, of New Road, Kirkby Lonsdale, is accused of 18 counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and 10 counts of child cruelty.

John Studley, 64, of Maryland Close, Silverdale, Lancashire; Frederick Taylor, 74, of Lower Park Royd Drive, Sowerby Bridge, Calderdale; James Farish, 57, of Oakwood, Kendal, Cumbria, and David Hadwin, 70, of Raygarth Road, Kirkby Lonsdale, have each been charged with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

A police spokeswoman said: “All five have been bailed to appear at South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court on February 15.”

Underley Hall was an independent residential school for boys with behavioural difficulties which opened in 1976 and closed in 2012.

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