Former St Edmund's students frustrated by lack of communication on paedophile

But the college said it had written to the community last year about another teacher and made it clear that it encouraged anyone with any complaint of abuse about any staff member to go to police or the Christian Brothers order.

Cable molested or raped 19 children at NSW Marist Brothers schools in the Hunter Valley and Sydney in the 1960s and 1970s, crimes that would later see him described as one of the state's worst Catholic paedophile teachers.

He left the Marist order in 1978 and came to the ACT to work at St Edmund's College as a lay teacher for a decade.

There is no evidence that Cable abused children at St Edmund's.

His crimes at the NSW Marist Brothers schools were not investigated until several years ago, although the order received its first recorded complaints about him in 1993, after Cable's teaching career was over.

The police investigation led to charges and an eventual 16-year sentence, imposed in June last year.

St Edmund's said it did not become aware of Cable's sentencing until late August and confirmed his identity as one of their former teachers in early September.

They checked back through their records and found no complaints about him from his time at St Edmund's. No specific communication was made to parents and known alumni about Cable at that time.

Former students, including those taught by Cable in the 1980s, have expressed anger that they were not told.

Several have spoken with Fairfax Media, including one of Cable's former students, who helped bring the case to light.

"It shouldn't be up to former students to piece together, almost by accident, that the Mr Cable we knew – who taught us, who tutored us, who went on excursions with us – has a history of sexual violence against boys," one said.

"This is not just about Mr Cable. Any sexual predator working at a school anywhere in Australia must be sent a clear warning: you will be found out, you will be sent to jail and you will find no protection from the school that employed you."

The college sent correspondence to the school community on Tuesday night about Cable, a former headmaster Noel Landener and another brother, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

But letters were also sent in November regarding another teacher, who worked at St Edmund's in the late 1970s.

Christian Brothers Oceania said the letter was distributed widely and that: "The letter was intentionally worded to be open to any concerns from the current community or alumni, not just those relating to the case."

A second former student said he was shocked when he read about Cable's sentencing online this year.

He said the school should have immediately contacted former students upon learning of Cable's past.

"It is very disappointing to learn that St Edmund's have now admitted knowing of his conviction, but did not disseminate any information to the wider school community, in particular former students of Mr Cable," he said.

"It's very disappointing that, even after the revelations of the royal commission, any modern Catholic school would be silent about a former staff member being convicted of such serious crimes."

On Wednesday, Fairfax Media revealed that Cable could have been stopped more than a decade before he came to the ACT.

Cable had worked at St Gabriel's, a Marist Brothers school in Pagewood, Sydney. In 2013, one of his victim's gave a statement to police, detailing an encounter he had with his then principal in 1967.

The victim said the principal had arrived at his parents' home, something he said was unusual, and asked him in front of his father whether Cable had abused him.

The child said he had been abused and the principal promised the family Cable had been "spoken to" and would be moved.

No report was made to police.

Cable later went to a Marist school in Newcastle and abused another 11 children, before leaving the order and coming to St Edmund's.

Marist Brothers Australia say its order's leadership were never made aware of any complaint about Cable during his teaching career and that the principal did not take his knowledge any higher.

Fairfax Media was also able to establish another Catholic brother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, came to St Edmund's College from a NSW school, despite a complaint of child abuse having already been made.

While he was at St Edmund's, he allegedly abused another child, which resulted in a civil claim and settlement.

The brother then went back to NSW, where he is alleged to have abused and raped another boy repeatedly. Those allegations have prompted criminal charges, which are currently before an interstate court.