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Douglas man jailed for assaulting students

Cooper owned school in south Cumbria

A Douglas man who beat pupils at a south Cumbria boarding school he owned has been jailed for 20 months

Seventy-seven year-old Derrick Cooper of Hillberry Green was convicted of two child cruelty and assault charges last month.

He was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court today, for crimes committed at Underley Hall, Kirkby Lonsdale, in the 1970s and 1980s.

A jury convicted Cooper of assaulting one boy, Henry Gow, from Scunthorpe; and cruelty to another, Sean Hann, from Heysham.

Cooper was acquitted of six other charges.

Sentencing Cooper, Judge James Adkin said, using violence towards these children was a 'significant breach of trust'.

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