A former Dilworth headmaster has admitted writing references for several former staff who left the school under a cloud of suspicion - including one for a housemaster facing allegations of sexual abuse.

In a second case he gave a music teacher a reference so he'd be able to find another job, despite knowing he had been supplying boys with alcohol and inappropriately touched one of them at his bach on Waiheke Island.

Dr Murray Wilton has today spoken publicly for the first time about the historic sexual abuse that occurred at the private Auckland boarding school. He acknowledged, with the benefit of hindsight, more could have been done to investigate concerns that were raised about staff and to find out whether there were other victims involved in relation to some of the specific complaints.

The now 86-year-old, who was the headmaster between 1979 and 1997, apologised for the abuse which he says was "abominable". He described the men involved as "wolves in sheep's clothing" and "bad apples".

Nearly 140 men have gone to police with allegations of abuse and 12 former teachers, staff and tutors have been arrested.

Wilton told the Royal Commission of Inquiry that he never condoned, ignored or covered up any abuse. He did however write references for some of the men who have since gone on to be convicted of sexual offending.

One was for Leonard Cave who had taken a group of boys to his bach at Waiheke in June 1985.

"This matter was reported directly to me by the victim and his mother. At their specific and insistent request, no report was made to the police and Cave was asked to resign."

He said no other boys who had gone away reported any abuse and the Trust Board was fully briefed before Cave was dismissed.

Leonard Cave appears at Auckland High Court for sentencing in August. Photo / Michael Craig

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But despite knowing the reasons why Cave was leaving, he still sent him off with a positive reference.

"I did complete the reference for him because it had been made clear ... that his accuser, and the boy's mother, did not want Mr Cave's reputation and career to be irreparably damaged. If he had not been furnished with a reference Mr Cave would have had difficulty finding educational employment again."

He said neither Pukekohe High School or St Paul's Collegiate School where he later worked ever called to discuss the reference – if they had he would have been "duty bound" to say Cave had "left under a cloud".

When pushed on why he said Cave would be "sorely missed at the school" and that he commended him "emphatically to prospective employers" Wilton said it must have been written before the allegations came to light.

Cave was this year jailed for eight years for historic sexual offending against boys at Dilworth and St Paul's Collegiate in Hamilton over five decades.

In a written statement Wilton said he didn't write a reference for housemaster Ian Wilson but under questioning today he acknowledged he had prepared one.

It was put to him that he described Wilson in the reference as a "stimulating and inspirational teacher" who was ready to take on further challenges with Wilton's "unreserved support and encouragement".

He said he didn't have a copy of it but it sounded like words he would use. He added he may have written it before allegations arose, as Wilson had indicated earlier in the year he was considering leaving.

However, he acknowledged he gave it to Wilson, who was given three months' pay to leave straight away, several months after a former student contacted him with allegations of sexual abuse. That student was encouraged to go to police by the school.

Ian Wilson was sentenced to three years and seven months at Auckland District Court last year. Photo / Michael Craig

Wilson was prosecuted the following year. He was again arrested during Operation Beverly in 2020 and is now serving three years and seven months in prison for indecently assaulting five students between 1975 and 1992 - some of them more than once and over a period of several years.

Wilton told the Inquiry he also gave another man a reference who was forced to resign after refusing to stop an "inappropriate and obsessive" relationship with a student.

In terms of providing a "brief reference" for that man, who is now currently before the courts, Wilton said he cited "ill health" as a reason for him leaving the school.

"It was not a case of sexual abuse and therefore it was justifiable that he should be given a reference."

Wilton said the "comparatively rare occurrences of sexual abuse" reported during his 18 years there were always brought to his attention through a chain of command and dealt with immediately.

"Only two of these were reports of actual sexual abuse and only one occurred during my tenure."

Dr Murray Wilton rejected any suggestion he covered up allegations of sexual abuse while he was headmaster at Dilworth. Photo / Supplied

Katherine Anderson, the Royal Commission's lead counsel for the Anglican Church hearing, questioned Wilton about some of the incidents he dealt with, how he handled it and whether he considered those allegations as sexual abuse.

One involved Rex McIntosh who was reported in 1979 by a younger staff member for having showers naked with the boys in his House in the years before Wilton started.

McIntosh was overseas on study leave but was confronted when he returned and was told to "leave immediately".

Wilton said no allegations of sexual abuse were made about McIntosh at the time but he did speak to a police liaison officer about it and was told while it was 'ill-advised" it wasn't a criminal offence and police would be reluctant to prosecute.

"At best they might have charged McIntosh with indecent exposure, but they advised us to deal with the matter 'in house' and that is what happened".

Anderson challenged him on whether a man showering with boys was not considered sexual abuse.

"It was quite probably an indication that something else was going on and I accept we should have probably investigated it more thoroughly".

McIntosh was charged during Operation Beverly in 2020 with seven counts of indecent assault in relation to five boys between 1972 and 1980. One of the boys was under 12 at the time of the alleged offending. The rest were aged between 14 and 16. He died last year, aged 79, before he could stand trial.

Rex Clarence McIntosh died in 2021 while awaiting trial on seven charges of indecent assault. Photo / John Weekes

Inquiry Chair Judge Coral Shaw asked Wilton if there was something within the culture of the school that unwittingly allowed the sexual abuse to carry, whether it was some sort of systemic problem rather than just a few "perverted individuals".

"Yes, I think I would agree with you that there was a pattern emerging," he replied. "It's clearer to us in the retrospect obviously than it was at the time."

THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT

Asked about hindsight Wilton was adamant that he and his senior management staff did "all that was humanly possible" to protect boys from abuse.

However, he added the Trust Board could have done better to prevent the abuse and respond to reports of abuse.

"With "hindsight" the Dilworth Trust Board would have made changes to the manner in which they responded to reports of abuse and would have made more effective moves to prevent its occurrence.

"If the Trust Board, or I, had benefited from today's knowledge and understanding of the nature of sexual abuse and its management they (we) would emphatically have acted differently."

Dr Murray Wilton has spoken out about the historic sexual abuse at Dilworth where he was the headmaster between 1979 and 1997. Photo / Supplied

When Wilton was asked about the biggest challenges for a headmaster in preventing and responding to reports of abuse he talked about the perceived fear that speaking up might result in a student losing a "very valuable scholarship".

He said in his written statement that some of the boys may have felt like that 30 or 40 years ago but questioned the motive for some of the men who have made more recent allegations.

"What is not so clear, to me at least, is that given the clearly publicised removal of offenders, those who claimed to have been abused 20 or 30 years earlier did not report the abuse for decades, and only then, I may say somewhat cynically, when it became apparent that a billion-dollar Trust Board would be able to make generous provisions to correct what had happened."

However, while giving verbal evidence he appeared to back down from those comments, saying he accepted the offending happened and was sorry that it happened on his watch.

Wilton also took aim at the media in his written statement saying it was "grossly unfair" to current boys and staff how much media attention the historic abuse continued to attract.

"Why should the media be permitted to destroy the reputation of an unique institution that has changed the lives of some 6,000 boys and their families?

"The time has now long past that victims have had an opportunity to come forward after reading about the court appearances of the predators. Surely now it is the time for the media to desist, or be required to do so, and to let matters run their course in the courts."

Wilton had a number of suggestions that could be made to prevent abuse, including establishing protocols to encourage boys to come forward earlier, better staffing ratios in the hostels, preventing staff from taking boys on outside activities on their own and fuller investigations into other possible victims when someone comes forward.

Another suggestion was fast–tracking the move to include girls at the school.

"Not only is this a fairer distribution of the Founders' benefaction but a co-ed school is less likely to have adult male-on-male abuse of boys who will have a better conception of normal behaviour than is possible in the monastic environment of a boys-only boarding school.