[A] THIRD man has been found not guilty of allegedly using violence towards a pupil at a South Cumbria residential school.
David Hadwin, 71, formerly a long-serving maintenance manager at Underley Hall, Kirkby Lonsdale, was accused of helping two other men physically assault a boy during the early 1980s.
Mr Hadwin denied a charge of assault, occasioning actual bodily harm. In evidence he insisted he was not responsible for any violence.
At Carlisle Crown Court today (THURS), after a trial lasting more than six weeks, Mr Hadwin was found not guilty, unanimously, by the jury. Yesterday, two ex-teachers were also acquitted of alleged single historic assaults on pupils.
Following the jury’s verdict this afternoon, Mr Hadwin, of Raygarth Gardens, Kirkby Lonsdale, was told by Judge James Adkin: “You can be discharged. You may leave the dock.”
Mr Hadwin, a man with no convictions or cautions to his name, responded: “Thank you, Your Honour.”
Jurors are continuing deliberations on eight charges faced by a fourth man. Former Underley Hall owner Derrick Cooper, 77, of Hillberry Green, Douglas, Isle of Man, denies six actual bodily harm assault charges and also two child cruelty allegations.
