Cranbrook headmaster did not reveal dealings with alleged sex abuser at Geelong Grammar: claim

Cranbrook headmaster Nicholas Sampson ‘never mentioned’ when he’d given an alleged paedophile an extra year’s wages while at King Charles’ old school Geelong Grammar, it’s alleged.

The elite Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill.

Cranbrook headmaster Nicholas Sampson did not tell the elite school when it hired him that he had given an alleged paedophile an extra year’s wages and glowing letters when in charge at prestigious Geelong Grammar, it has been alleged.

The child sex abuse royal commission was told that Mr Sampson did not inform police in 2004 when told about the allegations made against Geelong maths teacher Jonathan Harvey but wrote to Harvey “you have been a wonderful teacher, an outstanding housemaster, a fine and thoughtful colleague and a tremendous and committed schoolmaster”.

The commission found in 2017 that Mr Sampson should have made a record of the real reasons Harvey left Geelong Grammar, the old school of King Charles, but accepted his evidence that he would do things differently if it happened again.

It is understood that Mr Sampson made no mention of his actions in paying Harvey to retire early when he was interviewed for the top job at Cranbrook in 2012.

“He never mentioned it,” a source said.

Nicholas Sampson, former headmaster of Geelong Grammar and current head of Cranbrook, photographed leaving the County Court in Melbourne during the child sex abuse royal commission hearings.

The elite Sydney eastern suburbs school — currently mired in allegations of a bullyboy culture, along with the mass resignation of all but one of its school council — stood by Mr Sampson, 64, on Tuesday as it did when the evidence emerged at the royal commission.

“The school council conducted a rigorous recruitment process in the selection of Nicholas Sampson as the headmaster of Cranbrook School,” the school said in a statement on Wednesday.

The entrance to Cranbrook School.

“The headmaster continues to make a significant contribution to the life of the school.”

The royal commission heard that Mr Sampson was headmaster at Geelong when he wad told in 2004 that Harvey had sexually abused a schoolboy in 1976 and 1978. Harvey was in 2007 jailed for a total of 32 months after pleading guilty to 10 counts of gross indecency committed between 1976 and 1978.

“My personal reaction to (Harvey) was that he was an eccentric man who spoke often about the Royal Family: he told me that he was born at Windsor Castle, was very aristocratic and charming, he seemed very intelligent and was a fine mathematician,” Mr Sampson told the royal commission during hearings.

He had said that he believed the victim just wanted Harvey removed from Geelong Grammar.

“Further to our discussion this morning, and due to the exceptional service you have offered the school, I am writing to confirm that we will pay out your contract in full i.e.: to the end of 2005 and would ask you to liaise with Andrew Moore over the arrangements,” Mr Sampson wrote to Harvey.

Mr Moore, then the commercial director at Geelong, followed Mr Sampson to Cranbrook where he is chief operating officer. There is no suggestion that he did anything wrong.

Cranbrook School headmaster Nicholas Sampson

Mr Sampson told the royal commission that he had agreed that it seemed that if Harvey retired, the allegations would not be made formally because that is what the victim wanted.

The Daily Telegraph revealed on Wednesday that senior female executives claimed to have driven out of Cranbrook by its toxic culture.

Cranbrook’s council sent out an email to parents after Mr Sampson appeared before the royal commission in 2015.

In the email the council said it “noted” the way Mr Sampson had written to Harvey when he retired would have been offensive to child sexual abuse victims.

“Mr Sampson wrote in complimentary terms to Mr Harvey accepting his resignation and confirming the payment arrangement … Mr Sampson acknowledged that the manner in which he wrote to Mr Harvey on his retirement and the payment of the money is offensive to victims of child sex abuse and he apologised for that,” the email read.