'Very little trouble with illegal drugs' in school

Sep 25 2008 Harrow Observer

WILL Harrow School's headmaster Barnaby Lenon please justify his claim that the school has had "very little trouble with illegal drugs in the last five years" (September 11)?

Four years ago Princess Beatrice's ex-boyfriend was thrown out of Harrow after being accused of snorting cocaine.

James Green was expelled after masters found cannabis in his room. His chum Hal Messel was also expelled after he admitted to having cocaine.

Two years ago the daughter of a Harrow School master was stabbed 66 times and her body mutilated by the drug-taking son of another Harrow master, subsequently convicted of manslaughter and sent to Broadmoor.

Is this what Mr Lenon means by "very little trouble?"

It is all very well for Hill resident Linda Benham, quoted in your report, to say the drug problem is "everywhere" and that people at parties treat drugs as an alternative to a glass of wine. This misses the point. Harrow School prides itself on being superior to the common herd, an example of moral probity to the rest of us.

The headmaster says most of the school's drug problems have been in relation to a "third party" who has told him "there is an issue".

Will he please stop talking in riddles, tell us who is the mysterious Third Man and what exactly is the issue at the heart of the matter.

DAVID RUDNICK

Harrow