Edinburgh council official resigns as investigation continues into handling of complaints

A senior council official who was suspended as part of an investigation into the handling of complaints against a social work manager later found dead as he was awaiting trial on historic sex charges has now resigned from his post, ending the possibility of any disciplinary action against him.

Andy Jeffries, who was senior manager, children's practice teams, in the Children and Families department, had worked for the council since 1989 but was temporarily removed from duty on a "precautionary basis" around October last year as the council began an inquiry into how previous complaints made against a member of his team, Sean Bell, were dealt with.

Mr Bell was found dead on the Radical Road at Edinburgh' s Salisbury Crags on August 27 last year. He had been facing a criminal trial for allegations of historic sexual assault, domestic abuse and rape.

Two parallel independent inquiries led by top QC Susanne Tanner are currently under way, one into the Sean Bell case and the other into the organisational culture of the council. More than 200 witnesses have now come forward to give evidence to the second inquiry, a figure which sources say underlines the scale of concern over management practices at the council.

Two parallel independent inquiries are under way at the city council

The Evening News understands that Stephen Moir, executive director of Corporate Services at the authority, had begun a disciplinary investigation into the conduct of Mr Jeffries, but that that investigation ended abruptly last week.

Sources confirmed Mr Jeffries had resigned.

A whistleblower, who is a former colleague of Mr Bell and Mr Jeffries, was dismayed that there would now be no possibility of any disciplinary action against Mr Jeffries if he was found to have acted wrongly.

He said: “This is outrageous. There’s no need to halt the disciplinary on the basis of that. If the disciplinary had found him at fault he would have lost his pension. And now he gets to walk away with zero repercussions.

“This is exactly how the council has always operated and the fact this has been allowed to happen during an independent inquiry into how the council handled complaints against Sean Bell, and Andy Jeffries’ role in that, beggars belief.”

The whistleblower revealed last year he had raised issues about an alleged assault involving Mr Bell almost a decade ago, which were ignored. He had also raised concerns with senior managers about intimidation and bullying of staff by Mr Bell as well as inappropriate use of public funds.

In letters from 2011, the whistleblower told how a woman at that time joined his team in a temporary position, but that soon after starting she came to him “distressed", alleging she had been physically assaulted.

Tory group leader Iain Whyte said: “You do wonder what has been discovered and what is being looked into when people suddenly resign and move on. Certainly it will leave the public wondering.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.