A Crawley woman has been awarded a share of more than £200,000 compensation for sexual abuse inflicted by her headteacher.

She was one of eight former prep school pupils who brought a case against Dulwich College Preparatory School in Kent for failing in its duty of care.

The group were repeatedly indecently assaulted by Robin Peverett, 69, from Battle, between 1969 and 1977.

They reached the out-of-court settlement just weeks before the case was due to be heard in the High Court.

The 37-year-old woman had reported the crimes to police after seeing Peverett on television talking about the marriage of her school friend, Sophie Rhys-Jones, to Prince Edward.

Her decision encouraged other pupils to come forward and Peverett was arrested in 1999.

He was given a 15-month suspended sentence after he admitted assaulting six girls and one boy but the woman said she was devastated he did not go to jail.

There was outrage at the lenient sentence and although the case went to the Court of Appeal, judges turned down harsher sentencing.

Peverett, made an OBE, faced a maximum ten years in prison.

The eight victims and their solicitor, Sarah Harman, had nine hours of negotiations yesterday with representatives of the school's governors.

After the meeting the two sides issued a joint statement which read: "This compensation is in recognition of the sexual abuse they suffered as children perpetrated by headmaster Robin Peverett.

"Having met with representatives from the present board of governors, the former pupils are satisfied that appropriate measures are in place to ensure the highest possible standards of pastoral car."

Peverett used to "discipline" the children by putting them across his knee and smacking their buttocks.

He often singled out children while they were wearing their pyjamas and ordered them to his private quarters where he abused them.

The victims said Peverett should not have had access to the girls' changing rooms nor been allowed to conduct sex education classes.

They also claimed staff must have been aware of Peverett's behaviour and when a complaint was lodged in 1975 they did not act on it.

The former pupils suffered psychological distress and a number of them performed badly in exams as a result of the abuse.

The compensation claim could open the way for other pupils to sue if they believe their school failed to prevent them being abused by its staff.