Dhaka, March 15 -- Earl Spencer, the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, is advocating an immediate end to corporal punishment to children in all settings.

The distinguished aristocrat, now 59, alleges he was physically, mentally, and sexually abused at Maidwell Hall boarding school in Northamptonshire during the 1970s when he was just 11 years old.

In his memoir entitled 'A Very Private School' (to be published later this month) he tells how he and other young boys were targeted, groomed, and abused in their dormitory beds at night by a female member of staff whom he describes as a "voracious paedophile".

In his book he also recalls how corporal punishment was a common and considered "normal practice" at the boarding school. ...