One of the victims of disgraced former teacher Trevor Bolton described how the sex abuse trial had allowed him to "exorcise demons".

Bolton, 78, was today convicted of three serious sexual assaults and one indecent assault.

Yesterday, Bolton, now of Kestrel Way, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, was found guilty of 21 sexual offences committed against boys while he was a French teacher at Carmel College in Wallingford between 1968 and 1988.

The eight victims, all male, were aged under 16 at the time of the offences

In a statement, one of the victims of Trevor Bolton said: “The man who was entrusted with my care, 45 years ago, who abused both his position of trust and me, has been found guilty of 25 counts of abuse against me and 7 other men - all young boys when the abuse took place.

“The trial process conjured a strange mixture of emotions, by turns gruelling, frustrating, empowering and, at the end, redemptive but overwhelmingly sad. 

“Seeing my abuser, giving my evidence, staying strong under cross examination and, ultimately, a guilty verdict were all positive experiences. The defence barrister's attempts to destroy our evidence and the endless waiting for that verdict were rather more difficult. 

“But I'm glad I went through it, glad someone else came forward to start the ball rolling, glad I heard about it and joined in, glad I stuck with it and glad I've been able to exorcise those demons after all these years. 

“I'm happy to speak out now in the hope that other people in my position will find the courage to come forward and speak out and also to try and shine more light on the dark, dirty secrets that our society continues to hide. I also want to say thank you to DC Patricia Coyne for steering this through. She's been amazing.”