Former Edinburgh Academy teacher beat and throttled boys, court told

One witness says John Brownlee would bounce boys’ heads off walls or desks, and tells of PTSD diagnosis

A “sadistic” former teacher at an elite Scottish private school has been accused in court of physically assaulting and throttling young boys in his care, some of whom were allegedly left unconscious.

Former pupils at Edinburgh Academy, one of Scotland’s most prestigious fee-paying schools, allege that John Brownlee, now 84, abused and terrorised boys as young as eight while teaching there and running a school boarding house between 1967 and 1987.