Guilty, rapist head of private school

AN ELDERLY Scots headteacher has been locked up after being extradited from Spain to face charges over the sexual abuse of two women.

James Berry preyed on his victims but insisted he had been the target of a ‘criminal conspiracy’.

The crimes mainly occurred between 1963 and 1987 in Glasgow and Renfrewshire.

The 77-year-old is the owner and headteacher of the exclusive British school King Richard III College in Majorca, where he has lived for the past 30 years.

The pensioner is behind bars after being found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday of five charges, including raping both women.

The trial heard how the teacher struck at one house in Govan, Glasgow, as well as others in the city’s Crookston and in Renfrew and Houston, Renfrewshire.

He was also said to have been abusive in Spain and Canada.

The oldest of the two victims told a priest how she had suffered.

Berry insisted it was ‘rubbish’ that he had been ‘controlling’ with the woman. He told the court: ‘I was not a dictator.’ But prosecutors said he had sexually assaulted, punched and grabbed by the woman by the throat.

The second victim also had a harrowing ordeal at Glasgow’s Hilton Hotel and during a driving lesson.

Quizzed about her allegations by his QC, Claire Mitchell, Berry said: ‘She was never abused. I can assure you.’ He claimed ‘things had been brought up in her imagination’.

Miss Mitchell put to him: ‘It is said you ordered her to do things, she was compliant and scared of you. That she did your bidding sexually?’ He said: ‘No.’

Berry said this victim had made allegations as part of a ‘criminal conspiracy’ to take over his school.

He said: ‘I have been teaching for 50 years and have a perfect record.’

After the verdict, prosecutor Kath Harper told jurors Berry had been brought back to Scotland in 2019 on an European Arrest Warrant.

He had been living in Santa Ponsa, Majorca, with his wife and three children.

Judge Thomas Welsh, QC, deferred sentencing until next month.