A retired Scottish teacher accused of decades-old sexual abuse has been arrested in South Africa on 90 new charges, deepening one of the UK’s most high-profile historic abuse cases. Iain Wares, 86, formerly a teacher at Edinburgh Academy and Fettes College in the 1960s and 70s, has been accused by dozens of former pupils, including BBC presenter Nicky Campbell, of sexual and physical abuse. Wares, who has lived in Cape Town since the late 1970s, was first arrested in 2019 after UK prosecutors filed an extradition request on seven charges. In August 2023, the Cape Town High Court approved his extradition to Scotland on three charges, but the process was delayed when UK authorities sought to add new allegations.
The latest 90 charges stem from complaints made by 65 former pupils in Scotland, bringing the total number of charges against him to more than 160. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) confirmed that prosecutors had updated their case following a surge in testimonies from alleged victims. Wares left Scotland in 1979, shortly after the first complaints surfaced, and went on to teach at schools in South Africa until his retirement in 2006. Victims accuse Fettes College and Edinburgh Academy of failing to report the abuse to authorities at the time, allowing him to leave the country and continue teaching abroad.
Separately, Wares faces a local trial in Cape Town after a former student in South Africa lodged an abuse complaint against him. He has been released on bail, and the hearing is scheduled to begin on 20 November. Nicky Campbell, one of Wares’s former pupils, has publicly campaigned for justice, calling the case “a national disgrace” and urging both the UK and South African governments to expedite the extradition. The case has also fueled wider calls for accountability within elite UK boarding schools, as more former pupils come forward with accounts of abuse dating back several decades.
