Critical review into abuse at Ayrshire children's home

Brian Newman abused six boys at the Ayrshire children's home during the 1990s

A Scottish council has admitted it missed the chance to deal with concerns at a children's home where a worker sexually abused young boys.

A review into the case revealed a string of problems at the Woodhead Road children's unit in South Ayrshire, where the abuse by Brian Newman took place during the 1990s.

The former care worker was jailed for 13 years in 2015.

Lawyers for Newman's victims said the review was "too little, too late".

The investigation by the South Ayrshire chief officers' group for public protection found that, although Newman's abuse was reported and investigated, the children's concerns "were not fully heard".

Other residents at the home in Coylton near Ayr said they did not report the exploitation at the time for fear they would not be believed.

The South Ayrshire Council report states "there were missed opportunities to deal with reports of abuse made by a former resident in 2007".

Newman, 61, from Kilmarnock, was convicted of 10 charges of indecency and sexual assault against six boys at the home between 1990 and 1996.

His victims only came forward after the Jimmy Savile scandal broke in 2012.

Kim Leslie, a specialist abuse lawyer at Digby Brown Solicitors, said: "We respect the acknowledgement by South Ayrshire Council that there were failings but it is arguably too little, too late for our clients.

"As the report found, incidents of abuse and concerns were reported years ago but were not investigated properly, if at all.

"We represent individuals whose lives have been irreversibly changed after suffering at the hands of Brian Newman.

"Personal injury actions for damages are now under way on the grounds that South Ayrshire Council is vicariously liable for the abuse carried out by their former caretaker which I hope provides the answers and closure his victims deserve."

Significant concerns

The review, carried out through the independent South Ayrshire child protection committee, found that although Newman's behaviour was reported by some children at the time, "any action taken did not recognise the significance of these concerns".

South Ayrshire Council said the way in which young people are looked after and consulted about their care has changed significantly since the 1990s, as have the procedures for vetting those who work with children.

The chairman of the South Ayrshire child protection committee, Prof Paul Martin, said: "While there have been significant changes to modern child protection practices and procedures in the two decades since this abuse took place - providing a better framework overall for the protection of children - the review findings show that agencies can, and must, continue to do better to provide our young people with the best care possible.

Paula Godfrey, South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership's head of children's health, care and justice, said: "This report makes it clear that there were shortcomings in how staff responded to concerns raised by young people at Woodhead Road Children's Unit in the 1990s and for that we are truly sorry.

"Children's houses should be a place of safety and a place where children and young people are cared for, nurtured and looked after - and that was not the case for those abused by the individual who committed these appalling crimes and breached the trust placed in him to look after young people."