Care Staff ‘Took Three Days To Report Alleged Attack’

Staff at a residential centre for disabled adults took three days to phone the police after witnessing an alleged sexual assault, The Herald has learned. Workers said they did not want to make “a big fuss” over the incident involving a man and a young woman at the Camphill Blair Drummond community in Stirlingshire.

Social workers and the victim’s parents are furious over the delay, which has led to the centre being closed to new residents and a retraining drive for staff.

The man was eventually charged in connection with the incident, but the procurator-fiscal service has told the mother of the victim there is not enough evidence to proceed with a prosecution meantime.

Camphill officials, who acknowledge the incident took place and believe their staff averted a more serious “occurrence”, deny that the delay in alerting police harmed the prosecution.

Hazel Munro, who chairs the community’s board of trustees, said: “Staff took a wrong decision not to phone the police. It has now been drummed into them that the first thing they do is dial 999.”

Mrs Munro now expects a moratorium on new referrals to be lifted. But one parent, Sue Gutteridge, said the incident was “symptomatic of the whole culture” at Blair Drummond.

Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie, who described the June 30 incident as a “serious catalogue” of errors, is backing the victim’s mother, who is considering legal action.