Angus Bell, who was among pupils suffering abuse at Loretto School, in Musselburgh, East Lothian during the 1990s is to sue the school for £1 million, the Daily Record has reported.

Loretto School was investigated during the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, with Bell giving evidence anonymously at the time about the abuse he suffered at the hands of a small number of staff and other pupils. He has now decided to sue after describing his time at the schools as “eight years in hell,”

Bell said: “I was a child trapped in a madhouse of violence and sexual and emotional abuse. Even now, decades later, remembering it can make me curl up and cry.

“I witnessed kids set on fire and their genitals mutilated from gang beatings with boots. We were beaten daily with hockey sticks and cricket bats. Beds were urinated and defecated on.

“I was whipped with belt buckles, thrown down flights of stairs, waterboarded in dirty toilets, locked in trunks and strangled. None of this would seem out of place in an Isis torture site, let alone a school that cost families hundreds of thousands of pounds.”

One teacher at the school, the late Guy Ray-Hills, was a prolific sexual predator who was allowed to resign with references after complaints were made against him in 1967.

Bell’s personal injury law firm, Digby Brown, stated: “We know Mr Bell is one of many who suffered at Loretto but his courage could be the very catalyst to herald a new wave of justice against yet another institution that failed children it was responsible for.”

It is believed others who suffered abuse may join Bell in suing the school.

Loretto School stated: “In light of the ongoing legal position and our responsibility of confidentiality to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, it is not appropriate to provide any comment at this stage.”