Inquiry told of 'naked' drama exam

Four former pupils at the school are giving evidence

An inquiry into alleged abuse by a former teacher at a south Wales school has heard that a pupil was asked to perform naked as part of a drama exam.

The witness told the Clywch inquiry that he performed the scene from the play Equus - a play about a man who falls in love with a horse - for his O-level practical exam at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen in Pontypridd.

John Owen went on to develop an acclaimed writing career

He said the play was chosen for him by his drama teacher John Owen.

The 50-year-old killed himself last October by taking a morphine overdose in a holiday caravan at Porthcawl while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges between 1974 and 1991.

The handling of abuse allegations involving Mr Owen, who went on to develop a career as an acclaimed TV writer, is the subject of the inquiry by Wales's Children's Commissioner Peter Clarke.

Tuesday's witness to the inquiry at the University of Glamorgan in Treforest near Cardiff, is one of four former pupils who went to the police last year with allegations of sexual abuse.

The witness - who cannot be named - told the inquiry that the abuse he suffered was " very serious".

He said he often stayed overnight at Mr Owen's house, where further abuse took place.

Mr Owen resigned from the secondary school in 1991 and went on to develop an acclaimed career as a writer.

Owen taught drama at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen

This was the second former pupil of Mr Owen to give evidence to the ground-breaking inquiry, the first to be held under Mr Clarke's jurisdiction.

On Monday, another alleged victim told how he was sexually abused at school by John Owen while over a period of two years - once at an unofficial school trip to London.

The witness said some drama scenes were rehearsed in the nude, behind locked doors in a private room.

Mr Clarke launched the inquiry last month to establish what happened when parents spoke out over the claims.

But his efforts will not seek to establish any liability over the alleged incidents, which came to light when the four former pupils came forward last year.

Peter Clarke: Groundbreaking inquiry

One earlier witness has told the inquiry that Mr Owen encouraged pupils to beat up others in the school playground.

Another - the mother of a former pupil - told how her daughter had become suicidal because of lessons' sexual overtones.

She said boys were asked to undress and explicit sexual references had been introduced into almost every aspect of a play, she claimed.

Mr Owen's writing career peaked when he wrote the drama series Pam Fi Duw? (Why Me God?) in the 1990s.

A Welsh 'Grange Hill', it charted the lives of pupils at the fictional Ysgol Glyn Redyn in the Rhondda, the epicentre of a Welsh-medium education revival in the south Wales valleys.

Mr Owen was honoured by the Writers Guild of Great Britain for his creation, which was first broadcast in 1997.