THE HEADMASTER of a Fernhurst boarding school which shut in 1985 is on trial for committing 23 indecent assaults on ten boys left in his care by their parents.

Frank Skipwith, 79, now living in Eynsham in Oxfordshire, was appointed headmaster at Fernden prep school aged 39 in 1979, and allegedly lived in a flat next to the dormitories with his wife and three sons, who were among the school’s 100 pupils.

He is on trial at Hove Crown Court accused of indecently assaulting ten boys aged from eight to ten between 1981 and 1983.

The trial opened on January 31 and is scheduled to continue for six weeks.

Jurors heard that Skipwith, who denies the charges, described his night time visits to the dormitories as pastoral care.

But Toby Fitzgerald, prosecuting, said the visits were “blatant attempts to satisfy his sexual desires”.

A former pupil told Sussex Police how he was allegedly abused in his bed after being beaten with a slipper in Skipwith’s office.

Several boys reported Skipwith asking if they were enjoying what he was doing to them.

The prosecution, authorised by the CPS, follows an investigation by detectives from the Sussex Police Complex Abuse Unit.

Skipwith appeared at Worthing Magistrates’ Court on June 4 in 2019 charged with 19 historic offences of indecent assault against eight boys aged under 14.

At Lewes Crown Court on November 25, four further charges were made against him, of indecent assaults against two other boys at the school – three against one boy and one against the other boy.

Fernden, which shut in 1985 for “financial reasons”, was founded in 1907 and was a popular choice for children with high-flying diplomats and members of the armed forces.

One celebrated early pupil was author Alex Waugh, older brother of satirical novelist Evelyn Waugh.

Set in more than 50 acres of what is now the South Downs National Park, the school advertised itself in the 1950s as paying “special attention to health by courses of physical training and remedial gymnastics”.

After the school closed, it was converted into luxury apartments with communal grounds.