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An investigation has been launched into allegations of child abuse at the London Oratory School.
Police and social services are looking into claims that a former chaplain and governor, who died from a suspected Aids-related illness, sexually assaulted pupils he befriended there.
They acted after pupils sent letters to the children's charity ChildLine complaining they had been abused by Father David Martin.
The Scots-born priest, who was described by church officials as HIV-positive, died two years ago aged 44.
Two boys expressed fears that they may have contracted the Aids virus as a result. One claims Father Martin met at least six pupils in his rooms at the London Oratory Church, to which the school is affiliated.
A third letter, from a boy claiming to be a former pupil at fee-paying Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, accuses Roman Catholic Church authorities of failing to carry out a full investigation into the priest's activities at the Oratory.
London Oratory, in Fulham, South-West London, is regarded as the country's foremost Catholic state school and was one of the first to become grant maintained.
Tony Blair's sons, Euan, 16, and Nicholas, who is 15 tomorrow, are both pupils there but there is no suggestion that either of them is involved in the allegations or investigations.
Scotland Yard said: 'We can confirm an investigation has been launched into allegations of child abuse at a London school.'
Hammersmith and Fulham Council confirmed an inquiry had begun after a letter was sent to social services from a boy at the school, which admits girls only into the sixth form.
An earlier letter had been received anonymously six weeks ago from a boy claiming to be a pupil but social work-ers and detectives decided then that there were insufficient grounds for an inquiry.
The council spokesman said: 'There is a child protection investigation under way as a result of the receipt of new information.'
The Daily Mail has established that social workers have made indirect contact with one of the boys through ChildLine and have gathered enough evidence of alleged abuse to launch an inquiry.
One issue being investigated is whether Father Martin was ever subjected to a police check before being allowed to work at the London Oratory.
Schools and local authorities are required to make such checks for possible convictions but as a visiting priest at the Oratory, Father Martin was not technically employed at the school. The Oratory's headmaster, John McIntosh, was unavailable for comment last night.
Father Martin was ordained as a priest by the late Cardinal Basil Hume in 1994. Born in Ayr, he attended Ayr Grammar School and then Ayr Academy until 1972 before going on to St Andrews University to study biochemistry. He graduated in 1976 and began a career as a stockbroker in the City of London, where he worked for a decade.
Although he grew up in a devout Baptist family, his interest in the Roman Catholic Church grew and he began to attend Mass at the Oratory Church in Brompton Road. He entered the priesthood as a novice in 1988.
He died in hospital in September 1998. An obituary in the school's yearbook said he died 'after a struggle of more than 12 difficult hours, with seriously impeded breathing, blindness, and fading consciousness'.
It added: 'A fierce onslaught of bronchial pneumonia was more than his frail system could cope with, and so he died, after only four years in the priesthood.'
The chairman of the governors, Father Ignatius Harrison, described him as a 'devoted chaplain and governor' adding: 'The apostolic work that he most enjoyed was as chaplain to the London Oratory School.
'He was very enthusiastic about the setting-up of the Junior House and looked forward each week to the Junior House Mass in the school chapel on Wednesday mornings.'
The school established a Junior House in September 1996, admitting 27 seven-year-old boys for 'a specialist music education, with a strong emphasis on Catholic liturgical music'.
The Oratory, founded in 1863, has been praised for outstanding academic standards by Ofsted. It is five times over-subscribed for its 160 places each year.
Mr McIntosh, 54, has been head for 23 years and is known for demanding the highest standards of academic and personal behaviour from boys.
He demands support from parents in upholding his famous 'three H's' rule - haircuts, holidays, and homework'.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7726/Child-abu...
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