Banham

Banham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is about 7 miles (11 km) north of Diss, 12 miles (19 km) east of Thetford and 20 miles (32 km) south west of Norwich.ref|osexp1

The civil parish has an area of 16.17 km² and in the 2001 census had a population of 1,443 in 573 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of Breckland.ref|osnncc

Banham Marshalls College, an independent school in the village, was subject to Norfolk's biggest ever child cruelty investigation along with another school in Banham which was known as The Old Rectory School.

As a result of the investigation into the schools, which were schools for children with special needs that 'specialised' in Emotional and Behavourial Disorders, the proprietor of each and former head teacher, George Robson, received a two year suspended prison sentence. [cite web | url=http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED12%20Nov%202007%2017%3A25%3A14%3A853 | title=Victims' anger at cruelty sentence | work=EDP24 | publisher=Archant Regional | date=2007-11-12 | accessdate=2008-06-26 ]

The charges were brought by ex-pupils of the school dating as far back as 1976. Most of the charges related to The Old Rectory School, although some children from Banham Marshalls College had made complaints, some of which resulted in the conviction of David Clarke. [cite web | url=http://www.norfolk.police.uk/article.cfm?artID=10775&bctrail=0&catID=638 | title= School Staff Convicted Of Child Cruelty Following Police Investigation | publisher=Norfolk Constabulary]

Robson's brother, Anthony, was also sentenced for crimes committed at The Old Rectory School. [cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/3714541.stm | title=School staff on cruelty charges | date=2004-05-14 | publisher=BBC News | accessdate=2008-06-26 ]

Robert Wilson, a teacher and later principal, was also convicted of acts of cruelty involving vulnerable children but was later cleared on appeal against the conviction on the strength that the judge made an error in his summing up. Given that evidence given was not consistent and the judge has misled the jury, the conviction was deemed to be unsafe. [cite web | url=http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2006/2754.html&query=%22robert+and+wilson%22&method=boolean | title=England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions (see paragraph 33)| publisher=bailii]

Banham Marshalls College is now called Eagle House College and is part of the Eagle House Group. [cite web | url=http://www.eaglehousegroup.co.uk/ | title=The Eagle House Group]

References

* Ordnance Survey (1999). "OS Explorer Map 230 - Diss & Harleston". ISBN 0-319-21862-7.
* Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). " [http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/consumption/groups/public/documents/general_resources/ncc017867.xls Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes] ". Retrieved December 2, 2005.

External links

* News of Banham at [http://www.nearthecoast.com/banham/ nearthecoast.com/banham/]
* [http://www.dissexpress.co.uk/ Diss Express] - village's local newspaper websiteoscoor gbx|TM065880.
* [http://www.origins.org.uk/genuki/NFK/places/b/banham/ Information from Genuki Norfolk] on Banham.