A woman has been arrested by police investigating claims by Princess Diana’s brother that he was sexually abused by a matron while at boarding school.
The 67-year-old woman was arrested a day after Northamptonshire Police announced they had opened a criminal investigation into Earl Spencer’s allegations that he was abused at the age of 11 at Maidwell Hall preparatory school in the 1970s.
In his powerful memoir, A Very Private School – an extract of which was published by The Mail on Sunday in March – Earl Spencer, 60, told how an assistant matron, who he called a “voracious paedophile”, groomed him and other young boys. .
He said she was 19 or 20 years old at the time.
The Count wrote candidly how the matron, whom he did not name, first “kissed me on the lips” before “promoting me to the second rank of her reverse harem: those she touched intimately.”
The 67-year-old woman was arrested a day after Northamptonshire Police announced they had opened a criminal investigation into Earl Spencer’s allegations that he was abused at Maidwell Hall preparatory school at the age of 11 in the 1970s.
In his powerful memoir, A Very Private School – an extract of which was published by The Mail on Sunday in March – Earl Spencer, 60, told how an assistant matron, who he called a “voracious paedophile”, groomed him and other young boys.
Charles Spencer, aged 12, reads about the Battle of Blenheim in the War of the Spanish Succession
A young Earl Spencer, three, is pictured with his sister Diana in 1967 before being sent to boarding school
Excerpts from Charles Spencer’s memoirs were published exclusively by the Mail
Earl Spencer (left), Prince William, Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales wait as the hearse carrying the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales prepares to leave Westminster Abbey in 1997
Northamptonshire Police announced on June 10 that they had opened an investigation and the following day detectives arrested a woman from Stafford.
A police spokesman said: ‘We are in the early stages of investigating a number of non-recent allegations of sexual abuse at Maidwell Hall school.
“As part of this investigation we have arrested a 67-year-old woman from Stafford. She has been released on conditional bail while we continue our investigation.
‘Northamptonshire Police takes all allegations of abuse very seriously and if a report is made to us we will pursue all available lines of inquiry to help bring the perpetrators to justice.’
In his memoirs the earl, who attended Maidwell Hall near Market Harborough between the ages of eight and 13, stated that the matron abused boys at night in their dormitory beds.
He described how the alleged abuse and the emotional turmoil it caused led to him self-harming and wanting ‘full sex from too early an age’, losing his virginity to a prostitute in Italy at the age of 12.
Maidwell Hall has previously urged anyone with similar allegations against Earl Spencer to come forward and contact the police or local authority.
Northamptonshire Police have also encouraged ‘anyone who has been a victim of abuse’ to contact them, stressing that people who report sexual abuse have the legal right to lifelong anonymity.