Inquiry hears from husband of murdered foster carer

A woman killed by her 13-year-old foster child was a kind and caring person who had an affinity with children, her husband has told an inquiry.

Dawn McKenzie, 34, was stabbed by the teenager she and her husband Bryan were looking after at their home in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, in 2011.

A Fatal Accident Inquiry into the circumstances of her death heard that Mrs McKenzie decided to look into becoming a foster carer after years working as a nursery nurse.

Mr McKenzie, 40, told the inquiry in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire: “She was a very sweet, kind girl, very caring.

“She was a strong person as well, very determined and very hard-working.”

The couple, who did not have children of their own, began looking into fostering in 2010 after Mrs McKenzie saw a newspaper advert and told her husband it was something she was interested in.

They made inquiries with Foster Care Associates and undertook a training course and assessments, the inquiry before Sheriff David Bicket at the GLO Centre was told.

Mr McKenzie, a joiner, said: “She felt she had a lot more to give.

“She had really taken herself as far as she could as a nursery nurse.

“She had a real affinity with kids and she wanted to help. This was the logical next step for her and I was supportive of her.”

The boy was detained for seven years after admitting culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Day one of the inquiry heard that the McKenzies lived in a two-bedroom flat in Hamilton and had been married for almost 11 years when Mrs McKenzie was killed on June 24 2011.

She had previously worked at a private nursery in East Kilbride and had been promoted to deputy manager before applying to become a foster carer.

She enjoyed cooking, music and spending time with her family, the inquiry heard.

Mr McKenzie said of their decision to foster: “We saw it as a new challenge for both of us.”

Procurator Fiscal depute Carrie Macfarlane showed the inquiry documents relating to the application, training and vetting process.

A feedback form from a training course stated that Mrs McKenzie showed “excellent knowledge and understanding” and a reference from her employer described her as an “excellent child practitioner”.

The inquiry heard that the couple were keen to foster one or two children up to 16 years of age.

Mr McKenzie said his wife was keen to work with school-age children to extend her experience.

The pair underwent extensive checks on their background, health, finances and home safety.

Ms Macfarlane asked Mr McKenzie about a reference in the documents to the appropriate storage of kitchenware and where they kept their kitchen knives.

He said they were stored in a drawer with a child-proof lock on it.

Mr McKenzie said they had been left “high and dry” by the social work department in the first weeks of the boy’s placement.

He said they were initially delighted to have been approved as foster carers in October 2010 and within weeks they were asked to take the boy as their first placement.

However, the inquiry heard that the transition was handled badly due to the haste with which his previous placement ended, travel chaos caused by 2010’s severe winter weather and the boy’s social worker going on annual leave.

The boy was previously placed with his two sisters but this ended abruptly after the carer’s father became ill, and he was separated from his sisters and sent to live with the McKenzies.

Mr McKenzie told how the boy was quiet at first but seemed normal given his circumstances, and Mrs McKenzie described him as a “lovely boy” in early reports.

But he later emerged to be “a compulsive liar, telling lots of tall tales”, Mr McKenzie said.

A handover booklet from the previous carer revealed how he used to eat with his hands but the booklet said he had improved.

Mr McKenzie said: “That wasn’t very accurate as he still didn’t know how to use a knife and fork.”

Mr McKenzie said if they had known more about the boy’s background they would have still have taken the placement, but would have been “more cautious and better armed”.

A note from the boy’s supervision record, read out at the inquiry, stated: “Dawn and Bryan had just been approved as carers and have taken (the boy) as placement at short notice.

“Due to the ending of his placement with another FCA carer the decision to move (the boy) was taken with such expediency due to the other carer’s circumstances, and therefore was not managed as well as it could have been with little planning or preparation for (the boy).

“Dawn was advised that this is not what FCA would have wished to take place.

“However, given the circumstances, this is what we now have to deal with.”

Mr McKenzie said: “Reading it back, it’s absolutely ridiculous.

“‘He’s not here, she’s not here’. How is anything supposed to get done if that is the carry-on?

“It’s a joke. We were left high and dry, basically. It’s ridiculous.

“I was back at my work after two days. The weather wasn’t that extreme.”

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