Ex-PE teacher who hit children with golf balls ordered to do unpaid work

By

Scotland social affairs correspondent

A former PE teacher has been ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work for violent attacks on teenage pupils at a scandal-hit residential school in North Ayrshire.

Michael Neil, 72, locked children in the gym hall and struck them with golf balls at the now-closed Kerelaw in Stevenston between 1991 and 2003.

The ex-footballer, who played for Arbroath and Clyde, carried out so many attacks on pupils that a jury heard he could not even remember them.

He is the latest former staff member to be convicted of offences at the school and will be supervised for two years.

In 2024, Police Scotland declared a "critical incident" over the scale of its investigation into historical abuse allegations at Kerelaw.

Neil, from Kilmarnock, was convicted of five offences against pupils aged between 13 and 17.

A jury acquitted him of 11 other charges of assault.

The offences took place at Kerelaw, a List D school near Stevenston that closed amid allegations of abuse in 2006.

List D schools were residential institutions for children and young people who were sent there by courts or social work departments.

One complainer - a man in his late 40s - told the BBC the practice of hitting pupils with equipment was called "human Space Invaders".

"All the boys would stand at the back of the hall, and I thought we'd be lining up to pick teams [for football]," he said.

"The teacher would come out with a golf club and golf balls. All the boys would start running from side to side and he would then start hitting balls at us.

"I thought, 'No way, this can't be happening'. The older boys said that it was normal, it happened all the time."

He said there was a culture of "fear" at the school during his time there in 1990s.

"You could feel the tension... You always knew something could kick off at any point," he said.

Det Ch Insp Neil Guy said the teacher had "subjected children, who were supposed to be in his care, to violent assaults to a degree that many feared for their safety whenever they went to school".

He continued: "I'd like to thank those survivors who came forward to us and reported what happened to them. Their cooperation and assistance has been instrumental in ensuring this conviction."

Council-run Kerelaw opened in 1970 and was run as a residential unit for boys before becoming co-educational. A mixed sex secure unit was added in 1983.

The site catered for young people with complex behavioural, emotional and psychological needs. The main school closed in 2004 but the secure unit stayed open until 2006.

Police Scotland said Neil was reported to the Crown Office in 2023 following the conviction of two other staff members for violent assaults and sexual abuse across three decades.

In 2024, the force confirmed that Operation Chalk - its inquiry into abuse at school - was declared a "critical incident", due to the "resources required and the complexity of the investigation".

It came after 10 people were reported to prosecutors in connection with alleged abuses at Kerelaw.