Bully victim Ian Finnie has been systematically tortured and let down by the system, according to his guardian Graham Kidd.

Ian, 14, is now being taught at home by Mr Kidd and his mother Fiona Finnie, after he was unable to return to school for fear that he would face a continued campaign of terror and abuse and the hands of the bullies.

Mr Kidd, who lives with Ian and his mother, says he is angry that the school has let Ian down and has accused the school of depriving him of his education.

"The school and the system have let Ian down, very, very badly" said Mr Kidd.

"We are not the ones whose education will suffer because of the lack of action by the school.

"The person who does not need this most is the person at the sharp end of the bullying Ian."

The bullying started for Ian at Headlands School, which he left three weeks before the end of the school year in 1999.

In November 1999 he started at Churchfields School, hoping he had seen the last of bullying.

But almost immediately Ian became a target for the bullies at Churchfields and was subjected to a campaign of terror at the hands of a group of pupils who would regularly beat him up and make fun of him.

On one occasion he left school to go to a shop and was set upon by a group of pupils from the school, who beat him up and left him unconscious.

Despite this, Ian was convinced to return to school and give it one last try although, according to Mr Kidd, he had described the school as "an absolute nightmare".

But in the latest attack, three weeks ago, Ian's glasses were smashed for the fifth time since joining the school and his hearing aid was also smashed when he was beaten up.

Mr Kidd and Ian's mother were determined he would not be subjected to that kind of violence again and took him out of school.

Mr Kidd said: "We were terrified every time he went to school, wondering what would happen to him next."

A series of meetings have followed between the LEA, the school's headteacher Lynne Dunford and Mr Kidd and Ian's mother, with the latest meeting being held on Monday evening.

But the result is that Mr Kidd says he cannot feel that Ian's safety is guaranteed while he is at school, and has removed him from Churchfields.

He is now waiting to see if Ian will be accepted at another school.

"We have agreed to try to get Ian into another school, but we are teaching him at home in the meantime," said Mr Kidd.

"We are aware that it will take time to get him into another school, but he could not carry on the way he was."

Swindon Borough Council's principal education welfare officer, Nigel Pickering, said: "No school can guarantee 100 percent safety, but they do their very, very best.

"The school did everything it could to address the problems."

Despite repeated attempts over a three-week period to contact the school, neither the headteacher nor anyone else on behalf of the school wished to comment.