Retired teacher from Sussex school charged with abusing child - report

David Price, who taught at Ashdown House in the 1970s, has been arrested in South Africa, according to the BBC. 

British Police are also seeking his extradition from South Africa following allegations that he assaulted children when he was a teacher at the prestigious boarding school near Forest Row.

Price now faces new allegations relating to his time teaching at an all-boys school in Cape Town.

The 76-year-old denies the charges and is expected to face trial in South Africa.

The BBC spoke to a man who claims he was groped by the teacher at Western Province Preparatory School in Cape Town in 1985 when he was around ten years old.

A spokeswoman for Western Province Preparatory School told the BBC they never received any complaints that he sexually assaulted children.​ 

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The man contacted BBC journalist Alex Renton after learning of an investigation into sexual abuse at Britain’s elite boarding schools, including Ashdown House.

Price, who taught history, geography and sport at the school, was previously arrested by British police in 2019 and has been fighting extradition since then.

A former pupil at Ashdown House welcomed the action by South African prosecutors against Price, who left the UK in the 1980s.

He told the BBC: “Maybe our best hope is for South Africa to bring him to justice because the extradition is not working.”

A police spokesman confirmed that the process to extradite Price is "still ongoing and the charges are still outstanding against him".

Ashdown House, whose notable former pupils include former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, served as a prep school from 1886 until its closure in 2020.

The Prep School Trust, which took over the school in 2009, told the BBC it had cooperated fully with investigations into the allegations and had “worked tirelessly to ensure no such incidents could ever happen in the school again”.