Former student awarded £50k for ‘outrageous’ video

A former Methodist College Belfast pupil was left “traumatized” after an “humiliating” video was recorded during a school rugby trip.

Gabriel McConkie, now 19, has been awarded more than £50,000 in a civil case after the school admitted liability in relation to negligence and failure to supervise.

He was in the lower sixth form and on a trip to Portugal when it was alleged that older pupils forced him and others to run naked around the resort they were staying at.

BBC News NI has contacted the school for comment.

Her case is that they then used the video to force her to shave her head.

She was also forced to watch other boys as they were forced to act on a sex toy.

His mother Sian Mawhinney told BBC News NI that her son was “absolutely devastated” when he returned from the trip in December 2022.

“Gabriel was a completely different child on this trip to the one we sent and I think no mother expects these kinds of incidents on a school trip,” he said.

“They expect their children to be taken care of and monitored and obviously something has gone very wrong,” he said.

“He was shocked by it.”

The family were at the High Court in Belfast on Wednesday.

Speaking after the settlement was reached, Ms Mawhinney said: “The child we sent on a school trip was not the child who returned home to us.”

It is understood that the training trip was organized in preparation for the Schools Cup campaign.

Ms Mawhinney said that as a result of the incident, Gabriel left Rugby School because it had become a “hostile environment”.

“I’m incredibly proud of Gabe,” Ms Mawhinney said.

“He’s a wonderful person because he has a very strong sense of justice.”

He said that one of the things that troubled Gabriel the most was that there were other boys he couldn’t help and that feeling of helplessness really affected him.

“Today marks the conclusion of two years of horrific ordeal. We are obviously pleased with the outcome and are now hopeful that Gabe can recover and get on with his life.”

The family’s lawyer, Victoria Haddock, said: “This settlement is a welcome vindication for our client, who never had to take legal action following the Rugby School trip.”