Police begin cold case probes into care home abuse

POLICE have launched a reinvestigation of historic abuse claims at care homes including the notorious Smyllum Park orphanage.

Prosecutors asked detectives to begin a ‘cold case’ probe using modern investigative techniques.

These are abuse cases that were originally investigated by the old territorial police forces, which were disbanded when Police Scotland was launched in 2013.

The disclosures come after it emerged that at least 400 youngsters from now-closed Smyllum Park in Lanark are thought to have been dumped in an unmarked section of the town’s St Mary’s Cemetery.

The orphanage, run by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, was home to more than 10,000 children between its opening in 1864 and closure in 1981.

An investigation by the BBC and a Sunday newspaper last weekend uncovered the mass grave allegations.

But it is understood that the new police probe will not look at these claims – and prosecutors this week said there was ‘no evidence’ of crime at the orphanage.

Detective Chief Superintendent Lesley Boal, head of public protection, said: ‘Police Scotland has been asked by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to review a number of legacy force investigations into reports of abuse at care institutions in Scotland.

‘We cannot comment further as these are now live and ongoing investigations. If you or anyone you know has been a victim of abuse or wishes to report abuse you should feel confident in reporting to Police Scotland.

‘We will listen and we will take action regardless of when or where the abuse occurred.’

Analysis of Smyllum Park death

‘We will listen and take action’

records indicates that most of the children who passed away while living there died of natural causes, mainly from diseases common at the time, such as TB, pneumonia and pleurisy.

Youngsters were referred to the orphanage by the Catholic Church and local councils if their parents had died or could no longer look after them. They were cared for by nuns.

However, the home has been at the centre of multiple allegations of physical abuse.

The ongoing Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) is already examining Smyllum Park as part of its investigations.

In June, at an SCAI hearing in Edinburgh, Sister Ellen Flynn, leader of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, was asked about alleged abuse at the orphanage. She claimed the allegations were a ‘mystery’.

But asked by chairman Lady Smith, a High Court judge, if the order had considered that the abuse claims may be ‘wellfounded’, Sister Flynn replied: ‘There’s always a possibility.’

But she said there was nothing to back up the allegations.

It has also been alleged that a six-year-old boy died at Smyllum Park in 1964.

The nun who allegedly abused him has also passed away.

Last month, the Mail revealed that police had been alerted to the risk that paedophiles are preying on youngsters in care after the alarm was raised by the SCAI.

The statutory investigation has passed on cases to police in which it is suspected an abuser may be able to come into contact with children.

Detectives are told of cases in which a suspected paedophile with access to youngsters is at large, so they can carry out a detailed ‘risk assessment’ and intervene to protect youngsters.

The number of locations where abuse has been reported has now risen to more than 100 – indicating the scale of the allegations involving children in care.