Oprah Winfrey expressed her shock today after a woman accused of abusing teenagers at a school for girls in South Africa set up by the TV host was cleared by a court.

The trial of a former matron at Oprah Winfrey’s school for poor South African girls accused of abusing six teenagers is to be held in secret, a judge ruled today.

A former dormitory matron is going on trial accused of abusing pupils at a school Oprah Winfrey established for disadvantaged girls in South Africa.

Oprah Winfrey said today she was "devastated and really shaken to my core" when she discovered girls at her South Africa academy had made complaints of sexual abuse.