Man aged 70 held in school sex abuse probe

A 70-year-old man has been arrested by police investigating historic child sex abuse at a school.

The suspect, from Lancashire, was held by officers from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate this morning.

The arrest follows three others as part of an inquiry into previously unreported alleged child sex abuse offences at Swaylands School in Penshurst, Kent, between 1967 and 1993.

The investigation follows an inquiry back in 1993 which resulted in the conviction of two men for six offences each of sexual offences against children.

A spokesman for the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said the pair were sentenced to three years for each offence, which ran concurrently, and related to four victims.

New information received by Kent Police has since resulted in a further investigation by detectives.

Since the new inquiry started, four suspects have been arrested and some 20 victims identified, located across the country and abroad.

A 72-year-old man from Norfolk, a 69-year-old man from Edinburgh and a 60-year-old man from Berkshire have all been arrested in connection and questioned by detectives.

All those suspects are on police bail, and an additional three suspects identified by officers died before the investigation was launched.

PA