Abuse survivors urge Swinney to remove inquiry judge

A group of survivors who gave evidence on the abuse they suffered at private schools have called on the first minister to dismiss the judge leading the inquiry.

Lady Smith, who is chairing the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI), has been accused of "thinly veiled favouritism" towards independent schools.

The letter, from 28 former pupils, urges John Swinney to remove her from her role.

A spokesman for the inquiry said it would be "incorrect" to suggest its work was biased while another group of campaigners warned removing Lady Smith would be "devastating".

The inquiry has been investigating cases of abuse of children in care for eight years.

A total of £24.9m has been spent by the public bodies participating, according to the data released to BBC Scotland under freedom of information laws.

Since July 2016, the Scottish government has provided the inquiry with £1.9m to pay Lady Smith for her role as its chairwoman.

Former pupils at Loretto, Fettes, Queen Victoria School in Dunblane (QVS) and Edinburgh Academy have now asked the first minister to intervene.

They have claimed that Lady Smith has shown “thinly-veiled favouritism” towards the schools and leaders, in contrast to a lack of sympathy towards management in orphanages and religious institutions.

The letter said Lady Smith had been "very sympathetic towards former headmasters" and they were "astonished" to find out she had served on the board of governors at St George's School for Girls in Edinburgh, a role she left in 2011.

"The case studies on orphanages and religious institutions are gruesome and damning," they wrote.

"There is no attempt to emphasise how things have improved in these environments."

It added: "There is none of the sympathy towards management that runs through the private school reports."

The letter also complained that Lady Smith and lead counsel Andrew Brown KC had "caused considerable distress to whistle-blowers and survivors".

And it noted that instead of vindicating whistle-blower David Stock, she referred to him in the Loretto School report as “uncompromising and antagonistic”.

Former English teacher Mr Stock, who was one of the signatories to the letter, was the first person to expose the culture of violence and sexual abuse at Loretto, having suffered abuse himself as a child.

The letter also pointed out that Glenn Harrison, the teacher at QVS in Dunblane who raised the alarm about abuse at the time, was described as "paranoid" and "not competent".

"This has been going on for a few years," the letter said. "We have complained many times in writing, and we have received unsatisfactory replies."

It added: "For the chair of an inquiry into abuse to treat witnesses so unkindly is wholly unacceptable."

Lead signatory to the letter Giles Moffatt, who co-founded Edinburgh Academy Survivors, said they had had concerns over the impartiality of the inquiry since the Loretto School report was published last year.

"Every time we have been critical we have been told they are right and we are wrong," he told BBC Scotland, adding that asking for help from the first minister was now their "only option".

A spokesman for the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry told BBC Scotland Lady Smith had a "legal duty to be fair" and considered all evidence "rather than focusing only on parts of that evidence".

“It is incorrect to suggest that the work of the inquiry or its findings are biased," he said.

“All her case study findings are based on the wide range of evidence heard from witnesses and from documentary sources.

“In addition to findings published in relation to Loretto and Queen Victoria School, which contained significant criticism of the school hierarchy, as well as a recognition of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, several other boarding schools have been found to have been establishments where abuse thrived unchecked by those in senior leadership positions."

These include Gordonstoun, Morrison’s Academy, Benedictine school Carlekemp and Fort Augustus Abbey, St Joseph’s and St Columba’s operated by the Marist Brothers, and St Ninian’s - the Christian Brothers' school in Fife.

The group In Care Abuse Survivors (Incas), which campaigned for 12 years for an inquiry into abuse of children in the care of the state, said the concerns raised "highlight the complexity of the inquiry".

Helen Holland, a spokeswoman for Incas, said that while the cases were upsetting, the full findings would not be published until all care establishments had been investigated.

She told BBC Scotland News: "It would be devastating for the hundreds of survivors who have participated in this inquiry and have spoken of their positive experiences of being believed and treated with empathy, dignity and respect by the full SCAI team, for Lady Smith to be asked to step down as chair."

Ms Holland said Lady Smith occupied "one of the most difficult posts in Scotland today".

She added: "Fee paying schools, I believe, would have been better investigated outwith an inquiry set up to investigate institutions for children whom the state had full parental control over."

Incas lawyer Simon Collins said its legal team would "resist any suggestion that Lady Smith should step down".

"Without seeking to detract from the concerns raised by those who have written to John Swinney, their experience is not that of the hundreds of survivors that we represent," he said.

Mr Collins added that Incas did not represent any survivors from the independent schools referred to in the letter.

He said: "I would hope that survivors who are considering engaging with the inquiry are not discouraged from doing so as a result of the views expressed in the letter."

Lady Smith is yet to publish her case study findings in relation to Edinburgh Academy, Keil, Merchiston Castle and Fettes.

Loretto, Fettes, QVS and Edinburgh Academy have issued apologies for historical abuse at their schools.

A Scottish government spokesperson said: "The letter has been received and a response will issue in due course."