Probe after jail boss is pictured at party
A top prison boss will face a disciplinary probe after he was pictured enjoying a lockdownbusting cup final party to watch St Johnstone win the Betfred Cup.
Forbes McKillop, deputy governor at Glenochil Prison, ignored social-distancing rules despite the Scottish Prison Service estate being ravaged by COVID.
McKillop and friend Brian Wallace, a first-line manager at Cornton Vale Prison in Stirling, face an investigation by the SPS after admitting the lockdown breach.
McKillop has been driving home the importance of SPS officers working on his command sticking to the rules – and the UK laws – on COVID.
But the St Johnstone fan joined Wallace at his home in Perth, with at least two others, to watch the match on TV, with no social distancing.
McKillop, from Perth, is due to transfer from Glenochil to HMP Perth to take up a similar role as deputy governor. He was pictured inches from friends as he posed for a photo on Sunday night, shortly after watching St Johnstone defeat Livingston 1-0 in the Betfred Cup final at Hampden.
Photos of the soiree, which involved at least three households, enraged prison workers after they were shared via Messenger and other social media.
It is thought the photo was accidentally posted to a public site.
One source told our sister paper the Daily Record:“You couldn’t make it up that they would do this and then allow photos to be posted online.
“Forbes McKillop is being called a hypocrite because he is in charge of a workforce that has continually been reminded of the importance of social distancing.
“There will be plenty of rank and file officers raging that he has acted in this way. This is a classic case of somebody preaching one set of rules to people under him and living by another.”
Another source said:“If this was ordinary staff in the photo, it would be the guy in the black serving out disciplinary codes.
“SPS is very strict about this due to the amount of absences and vulnerabilities within the prison estate.
“This comes despite management always banging on about social distancing and threatening staff with disciplinaries if they breach COVID guidelines.
“Presumably they would have their wee cup final party then swan into work the next day and that would be the end of it.”
A Scottish Prison Service spokesman refused to comment on the Perth incident, saying:“We will investigate the circumstances that have been reported to us.”