Edinburgh teacher unleashed 'traumatic' attack on Nicky Campbell when he was a schoolboy, court hears

A private school teacher attacked BBC broadcaster Nicky Campbell in a "complete frenzy" when he was a pupil in the 1970s, a court heard.

The radio and TV host, 65, claimed he was assaulted while attending the Edinburgh Academy.

Colin Turner, 92, and David Bourne, 72, both former teachers at the school, are accused of attacking pupils around the 1970s but have been deemed medically unfit to stand trial.

Instead, a sheriff is hearing an examination of facts to determine whether there are grounds for conviction.

Mr Campbell, a BBC Radio 5 Live presenter, told Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday that Turner violently attacked him while he was a pupil at the school and "completely lost it".

He said: "It was a complete frenzy. I was absolutely terrified."

The court heard Turner came up behind Mr Campbell while he was looking at a notice board with another pupil.

Mr Campbell described a "vivid memory" of Turner slapping, hitting, dragging and "shaking him about", before pushing him to the floor with his foot.

He said he was "rag-dolled" by the teacher.

"It was more than 10 seconds of terror," he added.

Mr Campbell said it was "traumatic" and "one of the worst things that ever happened to me".

He added: "I was a skinny wee thing and he was a big man.

"The most vivid part is the yanking, the pulling, the feeling of the hits, the feeling of the slaps, him pushing me on the ground with his foot and thinking 'oh f***, what have I done?'"

Under questioning from Turner's defence lawyer Iain Smith, Mr Campbell said the pupil standing beside him at the time does not remember the incident.

Mr Campbell claimed the pupil had been "crying at the time", but blamed "dissociative amnesia" for his lack of memory now.

"I'm not making it up, it was one of the most terrifying things that ever happened to me," Mr Campbell said.

When asked why he and his mother did not go to police when it happened, Mr Campbell claimed reporting the incident in the 1970s would have been the "nuclear" option.

More from Sky News:
Royal Navy seaman 'plotted to leak intelligence to Russia'
Sisters pulled from sea took own lives, coroner rules

Turner faces eight charges of assault, said to have taken place in a period spanning 1970 to 1982, as well as a charge of treating someone "cruelly and unnaturally".

Bourne faces two charges of assault said to have taken place in the late 1970s.

The case continues.

(c) Sky News 2026: Edinburgh teacher unleashed 'traumatic' attack on Nicky Campbell when he was a schoolboy, c