'I will never get justice for what was done to me as a child'

A man who told police 24 years ago that he was raped as a child has said he's been denied justice, after his alleged attacker died before he could be taken to court.

Killian Steele told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry he was groomed and repeatedly raped by a member of staff at a children's home in North Berwick in the 1970s.

Prosecutors were preparing to take action against the man last autumn when they learned he had died months before.

Mr Steele told the BBC: "I'm always going to be bitter, I'm always not going to be able to put it behind me.

"I will never ever get justice for what was done to me as a child."

Now 60 years old, the sound engineer says he first made a complaint to the police in 2000, but it was 2012 before the case was reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).

At that stage, senior lawyers decided there was insufficient evidence to support Mr Steele's allegations, ruling out a prosecution.

That changed last year after the head of the Crown Office, the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC, secured a change to the law on corroboration.

The man's death from natural causes brought the legal process to an end.

Waiving his right to anonymity, Mr Steele told the child abuse inquiry he first went into care aged five after suffering sexual, emotional and physical abuse in his family home.

He spent the years that followed in and out of various establishments, where more abuse, mostly sexual, took place.

In 1975, at 11 years old, he spent ten months at Howdenhall assessment centre in Edinburgh after accidentally starting a fire in a cupboard.

Mr Steele said it was "horrible" like a prison, but its strict regime offered a degree of protection and "was a break from sexual abuse".

After Howdenhall, he spent five years at Glasclune House in North Berwick, a children's home operated by Barnardo's.

Mr Steele told the inquiry: "It was like a kid visiting Disneyland and being able to stay there for a long time. It was like a fairytale compared to what went before."

He said he was befriended by a member of staff.

"He was the first abuser that I loved," he said. "He made me feel special but did the most damage."

Mr Steele said that as an adult he realised he had been groomed and the sexual activity between them had been rape.

He first went to the police in 2000 and says he was interviewed over three days, but nothing came of it.

Another investigation was launched a decade later, ending in 2012 when the Crown decided his allegations had not been corroborated so the case couldn't go to court.

A third investigation was launched after he first gave evidence to the Child Abuse Inquiry in 2018.

In a letter to Mr Steele in October 2024, a victim information and advice officer from the Crown told him it had received confirmation from the police that the man had died earlier that year.

The officer wrote: "COPFS learned of this significant development only very recently as preparations were being made to raise proceedings against him in the criminal courts.

"Police inquiries directed by COPFS had concluded and our senior prosecutors decided he should be prosecuted."

The letter explained that a change in the law on corroboration meant evidence of a complainer's distress could be used to back up their account of the crime.

It said: "COPFS learned of this significant development only very recently as preparations were being made to raise proceedings against him in the criminal courts.

"Police inquiries directed by COPFS had concluded and our senior prosecutors decided he should be prosecuted."

The officer acknowledged that the news of the death could be a "source of distress, frustration and concern for you".;

Mr Steele told the inquiry he had already learned of the death through his lawyer -who was informed of the man's death by the Crown Office in August 2024.

He said COPFS had been "insensitive and uncaring" and had treated him with "contempt and a lack of respect".

Mr Steele told the inquiry COPFS had been "insensitive and uncaring" and had treated him with "contempt and a lack of respect".

In a statement, a COPFS spokesperson said: "The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service recognises the devastating and lasting impact of child sexual abuse.

"We acknowledge that Mr Steele has found that the standard of service he has received has fallen below that which COPFS strives to achieve and we have offered to meet with him.

"COPFS successfully prosecutes many allegations of non-recent child abuse and anyone affected is urged to report the offending and seek support, regardless of how long ago it took place."

The inquiry chair Lady Smith thanked Mr Steele for giving evidence a second time.

She told him: "It will live with all of us on this inquiry, permanently."