An 87-year-old Alberta man is fighting extradition to the United Kingdom to stand trial for historical allegations of physical and sexual assault involving minors.

Peter Murray of Wetaskiwin, about 70 kilometres south of Edmonton, is accused of assaulting 17 young students at boarding schools between 1965 and 1972, while he was a teacher in Scotland.

He is appealing the decision of the Canadian justice who approved his extradition, according to his defence lawyer.

No charges have been laid; in Scotland, charges are released when an accused appears in court.

The accusations, detailed in Justice T.G. Rothwell’s decision dated Feb. 18, 2026, and stemming from information from Scotland, come from incidents involving a monk named Brother Peter at St Ninian’s List D School and St Joseph’s List D School. Both schools were operated by the De La Salle Order, a Roman Catholic religious order.

The document includes a slew of allegations, including from a then nine-year-old that Brother Peter inappropriately touched him, that Brother Peter sexually assaulted another boy weekly who was between 11 and 13 years old at the time and that Brother Peter repeatedly punched or slapped a different child when he was between nine and 12 years old.

Murray is accused of being Brother Peter.

In an affidavit tendered to the justice, Murray strongly denies the accusations, adding he has lived in Canada for more than 50 years and, having worked as a teacher and vice-principal in Alberta, “has never been accused of acting inappropriately with any child.”

Murray’s lawyer pointed to a Cambridge University program in 1969 and 1970 that Murray attended, which is more than 640 kilometres from one of the schools, as proof Murray was not at the school when some of the alleged incidents occurred.

The justice, in the written decision, said that while there may be discrepancies in Murray’s employment records, “[t]he weighing of evidence by the Extradition Court does not involve consideration of defences or excuses.”

Rothwell ruled that Murray is the person being sought in the case. 

While he has been approved for extradition, the decision on whether to surrender Murray to the U.K. rests with Canada’s justice minister.

“An individual sought for extradition has the right to make submissions that the minister must consider in their decision. We cannot speculate on the timing of the minister’s decision,” wrote Kwame Bonsu, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, in an email to CBC News.

Decision ‘upsetting’ for Murray: lawyer

Stacey Purser, a lawyer representing Murray, said the approval for extradition has been difficult on her client.

“It’s upsetting, of course, both to him and his family who have known him as nothing but a perfect law-abiding citizen for the last 50 years,” she said in an interview with CBC News, later confirming that Murray has no criminal record aside from a shoplifting charge in Alberta in 1999. 

Purser said Murray was arrested on a warrant related to Scotland’s request for extradition in January 2025.

He is out on bail pending submissions to Canada’s justice minister, she said, adding that he has also filed an appeal of the justice’s decision.

There is concern Murray will not get a fair trial in Scotland because of the passage of time and the reliability of records, Purser said.

Age is also a concern – Murray turns 88 next month.

“There are significant concerns that if he was sent back, how long that would take to [get to] trial and that he would not be able to properly defend himself. So I think there is a significant fairness issue given his advancing age and sending someone back essentially to die awaiting trial in Scotland,” Purser said.

‘Shameful legacy’: Scottish reporter

Marion Scott has been reporting on Murray and abuse at Scottish boarding schools for decades.

In her more than 50-year career, the chief reporter of The Sunday Post said she has spoken with hundreds of victims from various institutions across Scotland. 

Scott has watched the story about those abuse cases progress from police investigations to a public inquiry. 

“This is a shameful legacy of that past that … for many years it was underground. It was kept as a secret. Very few people would want to talk about it for a number of reasons,” Scott said in an interview with CBC News from Glasgow.

Scott said one reason the issue wasn’t discussed was because the students at the schools were labelled “bad” because their parents were alcoholics or they lived in extreme poverty. But there were other reasons. 

“[Scotland]’s a deeply, deeply religious country. And for many years in Scotland, people didn’t want to believe that this level of abuse had been going on within the Catholic Church and other churches. And there was a great reluctance to accept that. And it took the courage of many of those young boys coming forward to change the attitude of the public,” she said.

When Murray’s extradition was approved by the justice, Scott said his alleged victims were “absolutely elated.”

Extradition between Canada and the U.K. 

Rob Currie, a law professor at Dalhousie University, said Canada has had extradition agreements with the U.K. for a long time.

He said the obligation for extradition is no different for a case involving historical allegations or current ones. 

“The U.K. has to present a summary of the evidence that it has that indicates that a crime took place, and that it’s the kind of crime that would go to trial here in Canada if it had taken place here,” Currie said.

However, he said that in Canada, the law is “tilted towards extradition.”

“The government has been criticized and the law has been criticized because they are too focused on extradition instead of trying to balance the need to co-operate with foreign states, which is important, with protecting the rights of the individual here in Canada,” Currie said.