A UNIVERSITY lecturer who suffered sexual abuse as a child in boarding school has hailed the courage of Skipton-born Ruzwana Bashir in speaking out about her own abuse.

Robert Minton-Taylor, of Cononley, said it had had taken more than 50 years and the death of his parents "to finally admit publicly what had happened to me" .

And, he said, he was doing so in the hope of giving encouragement to those who had been abused to speak out.

He told the Craven Herald: "Bullying and sexual abuse are not just the preserve of the 'immigrant' community - it affects us all and collectively we all need to take responsibility for it. It is still happening in all our communities.

"I am extremely sorry for the abuse that Ruzwana Bashir suffered. She is brave to speak out and I admire her for it.

"Back in the 1960s as a 14-year-old studying at a private sector boarding school in the West Country, I was physically bullied by prefects and sexually abused by my housemaster.

"In my day sexual abuse was covered up to protect the powerful - those in authority - or at least it was never spoken about. I never mentioned it to my parents because I was too ashamed."

Mr Minton-Taylor, a former journalist and now a public relations expert, said that he had come from an Army family , who had "scrimped and saved" to send him to boarding school.

He said: "Bullying and sexual abuse crosses all creeds, race, religions and socio-economic groups. I was a white middle class kid going to a distinctly, some would say, posh public school. The bullying and sexual abuse I suffered from was administered by white middle class people. Bullying and abuse in whatever capacity and however minor is wholly unacceptable.

"Recent sexual abuse cases that have been brought court have questioned the authenticity of what the victims have said partly because of our adversarial system in court. Victims may not remember the precise details of when the abuse happened - by that I mean the time, day or month - but every victim remembers in absolute clarity what happened to them. My message to others is don’t suffer in silence. Speak out. Those that perpetrate such acts need to be brought to justice and I am grateful that is now happening. "

Mr Minton-Taylor explained that he had written to the current headmaster of his former school who had replied with "a fulsome, heartfelt and unconditional apology".

That apology "enabled me to finally draw a line in the sand and move on. I am fortunate to have a truly wonderful and understanding wife and sons who have helped me through this. At 66 I don’t feel a victim any more. I feel liberated. I have a successful business career behind me ... I have the confidence and skills to deal with bullies – I now simply 'out' them."