A council has agreed to pay eight victims of an alleged paedophile in an out-of-court settlement.

The eight men were allegedly abused by Jon Styler when he was a headteacher in schools in Newport and Worcestershire in the 1970s and 1980s.

Mr Styler denied the allegations and committed suicide in 2007.

He was originally appointed by Newport County Borough Council before his employment was transferred to Gwent County Council.

Neither of these organisations exist now so Newport City Council was left the responsibility to deal with any claims.

A council spokesman said: ‘We can confirm settlements have been agreed in some cases but it would be inappropriate to comment further as two other cases are pending.

‘However, we would like to stress that the allegations in relation to Mr Styler are historical, and there are no links between the schools where he taught many decades ago and those schools today.'