Child abuse victim of Jackanory presenter tells how climbing saved him

"A man who was sexually assaulted by a children's television presenter has spoken of how climbing and mountaineering saved his life and sanity during the 50 years in which he kept the abuse secret. Iain Peters, 77, who has waived his right to anonymity, was between nine and 13 years old when he was abused weekly by John Earle, when he was a geography teacher and deputy head at a now-closed boarding school in Okehampton, Devon."

"In effect, for 50-odd years I was suffering from PTSD, he said. Climbing on the one hand, it can be a very dangerous activity. And in my case, I pushed the envelope of survival in climbing to its limits in many ways. In my younger days I was doing loads of crazy stuff. Iain Peters: In some ways, climbing, it saved my life. It saved my sanity."

Iain Peters, 77, waived his right to anonymity after decades of silence about weekly abuse between ages nine and 13 by John Earle, then a deputy head at a boarding school in Okehampton. Earle later became a children's television presenter and storyteller on Jackanory. Peters reported the abuse in 2015; Earle admitted six counts of indecent assault and was jailed for four years in 2017. Peters turned to climbing and mountaineering from childhood onward, using adventure to manage long-term PTSD. He wrote a memoir, The Corridor, which won the Boardman Tasker award for mountain literature.

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