MOST of Robert 'Rory' O'Brien's life has been spent in the enclosed world of St Mary's Hall and Stonyhurst College.

He was born in Dublin but his family moved to England and as a youngster he was sent off to the boarding school which would play such a massive part in his life.

He went to the school as a pupil in the 1950s and left in 1962 to study accountancy. But he was back just a few years later and took up his first teaching job at the exclusive boarding school in 1968. He never left.

St Mary's Hall is the preparatory school for Stonyhurst College and both are run by the Jesuit order on strict Catholic rules and guidelines. By 1972 O'Brien was deputy head of St Mary's Hall and as well as teaching English he was mainly responsible for disciplining the boys.

A minor disappointment came in 1982 when O'Brien applied for the job of headmaster of the prep school and was turned down. He had to settle for the job of deputy head at Stonyhurst College and a short time later he married his wife Liz. O'Brien returned to St Mary's Hall in 1992 when he got the job of headmaster and stayed there until 1998 when he was suspended following the allegations and police inquiry. Liz O'Brien also worked at the school and the couple were asked to take early retirement shortly afterwards.

The headmaster had lived at the school for many years and the family home is just minutes away from Stonyhurst. Mr O'Brien's son, Jack, is still a pupil at Stonyhurst. In the early 70s, both schools were made up almost exclusively of pupils who were boarders. On average, 150 pupils were at St Mary's Hall and most of them went on to the sister school.

The grand institution and buildings in the Ribble Valley is very similar to other leading public schools. Thirty years ago, hundreds of rules and regulations dominated school life and punishment was swift and severe even for minor scrapes and misdemeanours.

Despite the tough regime, most pupils stayed fiercely loyal to the school and its traditions. There is still a thriving old boy network and many ex-pupils return as teachers and go to reunions and get-togethers.

Many of the key players in the O'Brien trial come from families who have sent their sons to Stonyhurst for generations and O'Brien's son Jack was a pupil at Stonyhurst at the time the scandal broke.

Even though the school has changed in the last 30 years it still has a strict sense of discipline although corporal punishment has been banned.

One of the major changes came in the 1990s when girls were allowed into the school for the first time in two hundred years. Liz O'Brien had the job of looking after the girls during their time at St Mary's Hall.

Another big change was the gradual move towards day pupils. The day pupils now outnumber boarders by almost three to one. Even though Rory O'Brien was described as a strong and dominant man, he was still the most popular teacher in the school with pupils.

An imposing man, he was keen on rugby and coached the first team as well as being heavily involved in drama. O'Brien was often the driving force behind the annual school productions and a keen amateur film-maker.

His office was described more like a zoo than a headmaster's study and his style was often viewed as unconventional.

The four pupils who complained about O'Brien described him as an inspirational teacher and even admitted liking the man.

At the start of the case, the prosecuting barrister Elizabeth Nicholls described O'Brien as a gifted and inspirational teacher. And according to her that was the tragedy of the case.

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