Criminal inquiry’

Her brother, James Cameron, died of Covid during the pandemic. “I think too much of the inquiry time has been taken up with the deletion of the Whatsapp messages and I don’t think they’re capable of actually telling the truth or being transparent. Crocodile tears aren’t washing with me.

“If there are any tools available to my solicitors or the inquiry with regards to any criminal activity that took place, I would like them to use them all.”

Ms Waterton lost both her mother, Margaret, and husband, David, during the pandemic. “We’ve listened this morning to Ms Sturgeon, who is a consummate politician, a polished performance, and we remain dissatisfied that evidence, including minutes from the Gold Command meetings, Whatsapp messages and other evidence has not been made clear to us. So the context of the decision making that has been going on at the heart of Scottish Government remains unclear to us.

“Ms Sturgeon said she had not had a day off for some months during the pandemic. I would ask Ms Sturgeon to consider walking a day in our shoes, because we have not had a day off since the deaths of our loved ones.”

Her mother, Jennifer, died of Covid in a care home in April 2020, leaving her father living alone in the same care home.

“Many other residents in that same nursing home also lost their lives to Covid that week. We are looking for answers in this inquiry as to how decisions were reached and the reasoning behind decisions, such as why scientific advice was not listened to or not acted upon.

“I feel frustrated that today a lot of time has been spent, quite rightly, to gain the truth [about the Whatsapp messages], but it feels like time has been wasted.”