Edinburgh secure accommodation scandal: Member of staff allegedly shared porn with young people

A member of staff was investigated for allegedly sharing pornography with young people in one of Edinburgh's secure units.

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The incident is one of many listed in the internal council report which found "illegality, maladministration and injustice" stretching back over more than a decade in the Capital's council-run secure accommodation.

The damning report has not been published, but it is already known it highlights inappropriate restraint, assaults on young people, abusive language and a toxic management culture.

It is also understood to refer to children with bruised faces and children with burn marks after being restrained.

And now a source has told the Evening News the catalogue of misconduct included the alleged sharing of porn.

"One member of staff was alleged to have shared pornography with young people who were in the care of the council in this secure accommodation. Pornography was found on his work computer."

The council said the case was historical and investigations by the council and police had not been able to substantiate the allegation.

The internal investigation found "Illegality, maladministration and injustice".

The source said the report's chief focus was on inappropriate violent restraint and staff not following the proper guidelines in dealing with the young people.

"It portrays really bad practice and an aggressive atmosphere, lots of verbal abuse, people being belittled, unexplained removal of privileges, people getting locked in their rooms for hours, people being denied food.

"It's a secure care service but it sounds more like prison.

"It's a pressurised situation because you're dealing with kids who are in a bad place.

"And there has been a failure to ensure people in that kind of environment knew the right things to do and how to behave, but that doesn't explain allegedly sharing pornography."

The internal report followed a whistleblower complaint in 2020 and the council monitoring officer Nick Smith found there had been "serious and sustained failings".

The report was made available to councillors on a confidential basis ahead of the full council meeting last week.

And Tory councillors tabled a motion of no confidence in council chief executive Andrew Kerr.

But neither the report nor the motion was debated at the meeting because the 5pm cut-off time had been passed after which remaining items on the agenda are voted on without discussion. A Tory proposal to suspend the rule so a debate could take place was defeated by 36 votes to 19.

Tory group leader Iain Whyte later accused the council of trying to silence dissent and said it was “absolutely astonishing” they refused to debate what was clearly the most important issue on the agenda.

And yesterday, whistleblowers’ spokeswoman Christine Scott said the councillors’ failure to discuss the report was “a disgrace for the capital city of Scotland”.

She said the move smacked of collusion between senior officials and council leaders to stop scrutiny.

And she added: “This is obviously another example of major scandal and cover-up within the children and families department of the council.”

Asked about the alleged porn incident, a council spokesperson said: “This relates to an historical incident dating back to 2013 which was investigated by both the council and Police Scotland. The allegations were not substantiated and the process was concluded.”

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