August release for Brandon report

An independent report into the death of 23-month-old Brandon Muir is to be made public within days of it being received, Dundee City Council has said.

Drug addict Robert Cunningham is serving 10 years in jail for killing Brandon in March last year.

Social workers had contact with Brandon a year before his death.

Former Fife Chief Constable Peter Wilson has reviewed child protection services in the city and will hand his report to authorities in mid-August.

‘Crisis point’

Only small details on the report have still to be checked.

A spokesman for the Dundee Children and Young Persons Protection Committee, which is made up of social work, health service and police representatives, said they expected to see the report in mid-August and to make the findings public in a matter of days rather than weeks.

Cunningham was a drug addict and the boyfriend of Brandon’s mother, Heather Boyd.

Ms Boyd was also charged in connection with her son’s death, but was cleared in court.

Cunningham is appealing against his culpable homicide conviction.

A report released last month by government inspectors severely criticised child protection services in Dundee, saying that at-risk youngsters were often not given help until the situation had reached crisis point.