Abingdon School pupil expelled over rape and antisemitism jokes on TikTok

The parents of the Abingdon School student are now considering a number of actions to help their son, including putting up a billboard in front of the main building’s entrance demanding 'justice' for him.

Earlier this month, this paper reported on a number of ‘concerning’ incidents that the 15-year-old was involved in.

READ MORE: Abingdon School pupil investigated over 'shocking' rape and antisemitism jokes

Documents and emails from the private school, seen by this newspaper, detail the extent of these ‘highly-offensive’ jokes, which the pupil has now owned up to and apologised for.

These include a picture of three people dressed as Nazi soldiers, which the 15-year-old sent to another Abingdon student – from a Jewish family – through the social media app Snapchat.

Antisemitic meme shared by Abingdon School student

Another incident saw the schoolboy making a rape threat in a video on TikTok.

Separately, he also posted three videos on the app mocking the Black Lives Matter movement and fat-shaming women.

Staff at Abingdon School were alerted about his online activities by students at a neighbouring school, who were ‘so shocked’ and ‘disturbed’ by what they had seen that they decided to complain to their deputy headmaster.

One said: “I was particularly concerned about the video making reference to rape, which I believe has now been removed due to community guidelines."

In that case, the Abingdon School pupil shared a video of a woman who removes a balaclava and asks ‘what would you do if I burgled your house?’.

He then attached a video of himself, apparently carrying a gun of some kind, saying ‘I would rape you’ in response.

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The schoolboy was interviewed by the 'deputy head pastoral' at Abingdon as part of a panel hearing held earlier this month to decide his fate at the elite educational institution.

A report from this hearing stated: “He declined to provide any detail about the videos and repeated his view that he thought the videos were jokes.

“He confirmed that a number of the videos had been taken down by the TikTok platform and that he had removed the other videos after they had been online for a few days.

“He also mentioned that he had received some online abuse known as trolling in response to the videos he had posted.”

Even though the 15-year-old confirmed that he made the videos, his parents argue that a school has no right to invade a child’s life on social media.

They are now considering writing to all the owners of the prestigious school, starting an online petition to remove the headmaster from the school and launching legal action to overturn the panel’s decision.

Headmaster Michael Windsor said he cannot comment on individual cases but he pointed out that permanent exclusion is ‘rare’.

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He added: “It is never a decision that we take lightly or willingly.

“It will only occur after a comprehensive investigation has been conducted and it will follow the rigorous processes and procedures that we have in place.

“The school has a very clear policy on discipline and behaviour of which all the students and their families are aware.

“There is a copy of the policy on the website and students are frequently reminded of the high standards expected of them.

“The school will look to support excluded students and their families at what is a very difficult time.

“We hope that students are able to learn from the incident and that a move to a new environment will help them to make a fresh start.”

The school has also offered to support the pupil over the coming months with his GCSE exams.

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