DISGRACED in England, Derek Slade fled abroad and spent many years in India where he ran a school for orphans.

Slade travelled abroad on a fake passport after stealing a dead child’s identity from a gravestone.

As well as the name Slade, he used his alias of Edward Marsh in India and Swaziland, where he was headteacher at a boys’ school until being sent home by the authorities, suspicious that his motives were sinister.

Slade also claimed he was responsible for organising and funding 28 projects for child education and welfare, focusing on the poor and disadvantaged.

In 2003 he began overseeing the building of the Anglo-Kutchi English Medium School in Gujarat, western India. It was to provide residential schooling for about 70 child victims of the 2001 earthquake and floods in the region.

In October 2005 he managed to manoeuvre himself into the position of Indian president of Help A Poor Child (HAPC) charity as he strove to find the �16,000-a-year it cost to run the school.

At the time a press release on the charity’s website stated Slade had also help set up IBEP (International British Educational Projects), which was involved in numerous projects across the world, including Africa, Asia and the former Soviet Union.

However, by February 2007 the relationship between HAPC and Slade had soured, leading to his downfall. Through the HAPC website Slade’s sex abuse victims, some of whom thought he was dead, were able to discover his whereabouts.

Derrick Pereira, chairman and founder of HAPC, said: “We discovered his intentions were very devious.“

Mr Pereira said the charity did not believe Slade was using all the funding for the benefit of the school.

He added: “When we discovered what he was up to relations got quite sour.”

A statement on the HAPC website at the time confirmed the charity severed its links with Slade.

It said: “Mr Derek Slade is no longer associated with Help a Poor Child. Recent events, which we are unable to disclose at this time, made his position untenable and he was asked to resign as President of HAPC (India).

“HAPC has completely withdrawn its support of the school.

“Now, the charity is looking to secure the safe future of the children and recover funds it has made to the school, which is still under the care of Derek Slade and (another man).”

Slade’s involvement with the school began in 2001 when a fund was started to build it.

Slade and IBEP agreed to provide the bulk of the funding for the school and construction began in 2003.

He visited refugee camps in the disaster-hit region and collected about 50 of the children who were discovered to be living in the worst conditions.

As time went on, and donations dwindled, Slade and IBEP had to find other sources of funding and turned to HAPC.