Image from Ashdown House’s Facebook page

Retired teacher David Price, 76, has also been accused of abusing pupils at Ashdown House in East Sussex after a BBC investigation revealed dozens of allegations about his time at the schools.

The prestigious boarding school prepares boys for Eton College. Journalist Alex Renton, who was taught by Price, has spoken to six men who allege they were sexually assaulted by the teacher at Ashdown House in East Sussex in the 1970s.

After returning to his native South Africa, Price continued to teach and is facing trial for alleged offences there at a prestigious all-boys school in Cape Town in the eighties.

There are 42 allegations against him in total, including by a former pupil who alleges he was assaulted at the age of about 10 while showering at Western Province Preparatory School in Cape Town who said “from that day on he would contrive situations to get me alone”.

Price is now fighting extradition to the UK.