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(1953–). Studied French and English at Edinburgh University and received a teaching diploma in English at Moray House, then registered as a teacher with the General Teaching Council for Scotland.

Cruden worked at Merchiston from 1976 until 1985, when he was forced to resign suddenly after repeated incidents of indecent exposure involving pupils.

Cruden then applied unsuccessfully to teach at Bishop’s Stortford College in Hertfordshire, England after leaving Merchiston, blaming then-Merchiston headmaster David Spawforth for a bad reference in his written submission to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

He then applied to Bloxham School in Oxfordshire, England, where he disclosed to the headmaster why he had ‘resigned’ from Merchiston before references were obtained.

UNNECESSARY SCAI ANONYMIZING: For some reason—despite Cruden having both submitted a written witness statement dated 27 October 2020 and testifying at a Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry public hearing on 19 January 2022 under his own name—Cruden was anonymized in the SCAI’s final 2025 Merchiston case study as “Antoine”.

Cruden’s span teaching at the school, given in both his written submission and oral testimony, exactly match the teaching years of “Antoine” given in the case study.

Quotations attributed to “Antoine” (a popular French name and rather obvious pseudonym for a teacher of French) are direct quotes found in Gordon Cruden’s submitted written statement and his oral testimony on Day 266 of the Inquiry.

Word for word, Cruden’s on-the-record statements from both of these sources are repeatedly cited in the final case study’s footnotes but inexplicably attributed to “Antoine”. Unlike other anonymized witnesses, “Antoine” has no three letter designation attached to his name (eg. “Antoine (XYZ)”). The reason for this anonymisation in the final report remains a mystery.

2015 GUILTY VERDICT IN SCOTLAND: Cruden was found guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in December 2015 of three charges of indecent exposure relating to incidents involving three pupils at Merchiston Castle School between 1980 and 1985. By this point he had been teaching at Bloxham for 30 years.

On 16 December 2015, Sheriff Kevin Drummond granted Cruden an “absolute discharge” under section 246(3) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, which meant no fine, no imprisonment, no recorded conviction, and no requirement to register as a sex offender.

CONTINUED TEACHING IN ENGLAND: Following the 2015 verdict in a Scottish court, Bloxham School appeared to allow him to return to teaching “after taking legal and safeguarding advice.” Media reports and the school confirm that he returned to work in January 2016—but only briefly.

Cruden retired from the school later that same year, still a few years away from retirement age. Presumably either some Bloxham parents had discovered Google or the school realized post-conviction Cruden now presented a liability timebomb.