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Extradition of former teacher accused of child sex abuse delayed again

News imageBBC Iain Wares is wearing a navy suit jacket, blue checked shirt and blue tie. He has white hair and glasses. A man is placing a hand on his shoulder as they speak. A court of police officer can be seen in the background.BBC
Iain Wares is due to be extradited to the UK, where he faces dozens of historical sexual abuse charges

The extradition of a former teacher accused of historical sex abuse charges in Scotland has been delayed again.

Iain Wares, 87, faces about 90 charges of abusing former pupils of Edinburgh Academy and Fettes College, where he taught in the 1960s and 1970s.

Wares now lives in Cape Town in South Africa, where he was arrested on a UK extradition warrant in October last year before being released on bail.

An extradition hearing was cancelled earlier this year due to sickness and had been rescheduled for Tuesday, but it has now been delayed again until 10 November.

This is to allow parties to consider the admissibility of correspondence submitted earlier by the UK government.

In a separate case, a court found Wares guilty of indecently assaulting a former student in South Africa who accused him of sexual abuse in 1988.

He has still to be sentenced for this crime.

Prosecutors in Scotland first requested Wares' extradition in 2018, leading to his arrest the following year on seven charges of lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour.

The High Court in Cape Town ruled in 2024 that he could be extradited on three charges, but the process was delayed as the authorities in Scotland looked to bring further charges.

Wares was then arrested under a UK extradition warrant in October last year before being released on bail.

An extradition hearing was due to take place on 16 April but was cancelled because the state prosecutor was unavailable due to illness and a replacement could not be found.

Wares' accusers include BBC presenter Nicky Campbell, who was not abused by Wares but has said he witnessed the sexual abuse of a pupil by the teacher.

South Africa's national prosecuting authority said the additional charges included 60 counts of sexual assault, four of rape and 25 of assault.

Wares denies the charges and has fought against the extradition.

A number of Wares' alleged victims in Scotland had travelled to South Africa earlier this year to see the extradition hearing.

They described delays to the process as "crushing" and claimed that the country was the "perfect haven for paedophiles".