According to the Scottish Daily Mail, James Rainy Brown (AKA “JRB”) was suspended in 2013 “amid an imminent police investigation into allegations made against him”. This claim is a little confusing.
The Scotsman adds that “Mr Rainy Brown took his life after police officers went to the school to speak to Mr Hunter about the allegations… an hour after learning about the allegations.”
According to then-Headmaster Andrew Hunter’s SCAI Witness Statement, JRB took his life within 40 minutes of being informed by him that a police investigation was ongoing.
So, Police Scotland came to the school to talk to the headmaster about JRB. The headmaster told JRB about the investigation. JRB committed suicide between 40 minutes to one hour later.
So when was there time for a “suspension” to have taken place? Was this suspension something Mr. Hunter informed JRB of during the conversation about the police investigation? Here are the sources:
“Mr Rainy Brown took his life after police officers went to the school to speak to Mr Hunter about the allegations, which involved comments of a lewd nature made to pupils. It was reported that he hanged himself at his home in the Colinton area of Edinburgh only an hour after learning about the allegations.”—”Police inquiry teacher leaves £1m to Edinburgh school“, Missie Silva, The Scotsman (19 October 2013)
According to Headmaster Andrew Hunter’s testimony to the SCAI, “I saw Mr James Rainy Brown on 29 April 2013 to tell him that the police wished to see him. He left the school after our meeting and committed suicide 40 minutes after our meeting at his home nearby in Colinton having refused to have any support from the chaplain.”—Headmasters: Andrew Hunter – SCAI Witness Statement (17 November 2020)
“Andrew Hunter, who became head of Edinburgh’s Merchiston Castle School in 1998, admitted in email exchanges that he had become aware of James Rainy Brown’s actions that year. However, it took until 2013 for the school to suspend Rainy Brown, who took his own life amid an imminent police investigation into allegations made against him during his 52-year career at the £28,000-a-year boarding school.”—”School let teacher accused of abuse stay for 15 years“, Darren McConachie, Scottish Daily Mail (26 January 2022)
One of Scotland’s most prestigious boarding schools failed to discipline an abusive housemaster for 15 years, an inquiry heard yesterday. Andrew Hunter, who became head of Edinburgh’s Merchiston Castle School in 1998, admitted in email exchanges that he had become aware of James Rainy Brown’s actions that year.
