Six men in court on Cumbrian boarding school assault charges

Six men have appeared in court charged with assaults at a former boarding school for boys.

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

Derrick William Cooper, 76, of Hillberry Green, Isle of Man, was charged with six offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two offences of child cruelty.

Errol Mayer, 72, of New Road, Kirkby Lonsdale, was 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, West Yorkshire; James Farish, 57, of Oakwood, Kendal, Cumbria, and David Hadwin, 70, of Raygarth Road, Kirkby Lonsdale, were each charged with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

A spokeswoman for South Cumbria Magistrates' Court said all six men were given unconditional bail and would appear at Carlisle Crown Court on March 20.

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.

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