A former teacher at a top Scottish boarding school jailed for sexually abusing a string of boys.
William Bain pleaded guilty to five charges of using lewd and libidinous practices while employed as a teacher between 1989 and 1995.
A former teacher at a top Scottish boarding school in Dunbartonshire has been jailed for six and a half years for sexually abusing a string of boys.
William Bain preyed on the five children who were pupils at another private school where the 62 year-old worked at the time.
One boy was attacked after going to Bain for help because he was being bullied.
Bain went on to secure a senior post at the posh £22,000-a-year Glenalmond College in Perth and Kinross.
But, he was finally snared last year when one sickened victim discovered he was still teaching and called police.
Bain today returned to the High Court in Glasgow after pleading guilty to five charges of using lewd and libidinous practices while employed as a teacher.
Judge Lady Scott told him the crimes were “persistent” sexual abuse and that he appeared to have no “contrition” for what he had done.
She said the jail-term had been cut from eight and a half years due to his guilty pleas.
Shamed Bain - who latterly lived with his mum in Crieff, Perthshire - showed no emotion as he was led handcuffed to the cells.
The abuse occurred between 1989 and 1995.
Bain was a teacher at the time at a fee-paying school in Dunbartonshire. He went on to have the highly valued role of house master
The victims were all pupils there.
The attacks occurred either in an empty classroom, a photography dark-room or at Bain's private flat at the school.
The first boy was aged 11 when the abuse started. The next victim was 12 when Bain began molesting him several times a week.
Around the same time, Bain repeatedly preyed on a third boy, who was also 11 when he first pounced.
The fourth pupil was the same age as he was abused a total of 50 times.
Prosecutor Ross McFarlane said the final victim - aged 12 - had spoken to Bain to seek help as he was being bullied at the school.
But, instead, Bain inappropriately touched the traumatised child. Bain left the school in 2000 and moved to the exclusive Glenalmond College.
Former pupils at the boarding school include actor Robbie Coltrane, ex-Scotland rugby captain David Sole and the late newsreader Sandy Gall.
Current high court judge Lord Menzies is on the governing council.
Bain is believed to have been Head of Electronics there. Like the previous school, he was also a housemaster.
The abuse remained unknown to bosses at Glenalmond until 2015.
His first victim had discovered Bain remained employed as a teacher. This led him to report the ordeal he had suffered more then 20 years ago.
A large scale probe eventually resulted in the other four who were abused being traced.
Bain was later held by police, but made no comment to the allegations.
An impact statement completed by one of the victims revealed the abuse had a “profound effect” on him.
Bain had also faced in court accusations that he attacked three other boys, but prosecutors accepted his not guilty pleas.
The court heard today/yesterday that Bain realises his reputation has been “utterly devastated” by what happened.
After the hearing last month, a spokesperson for Glenalmond said Bain had been “immediately suspended” when the accusations first arose.
The statement went on: “Police Scotland made us aware of allegations of a child protection nature made against a former member teaching staff.
“These related to his previous employment and were not in connection with Glenalmond College.”
It is believed Bain - a Cambridge University graduate - has now left Glenalmond.