SUFFOLK: An alleged victim of physical and sexual abuse by a headmaster at a former school in Suffolk has told a court that he “blocked” what had happened to him from his memory for more than 20 years.

The witness, who was allegedly abused by Derek Slade in the 1980s when he was aged between ten and 12, said on December 27, 2008, he had woken in the middle of the night and, for the first time in more than 20 years, had thought about what had allegedly happened to him while he was a pupil at the former St George’s School at Great Finborough.

The man, who is now aged in his 30s, told a jury at Ipswich Crown Court he had been so upset by the recollection he got up straight away and started writing down everything he could remember about the alleged abuse.

“I had put it away and buried it. I’d completely blocked it out,” he told the court.

Slade, 61, who now lives in Burton-on-Trent, has denied six charges of assault causing actual bodily harm, five of indecent assault on a male and four of buggery.

He has admitted 15 charges of indecent assault and four of assault causing actual bodily harm.

It has been alleged that Slade beat and sexually abused a number of young boys in his care in a “reign of terror” between 1978 and 1983.

He said that shortly after the alleged abuse started he had sent a letter to his parents telling them he wanted to come home, but the letter had been intercepted by a prefect and led to him being punished.

The trial continues today.