Warning over paedophile ‘was ignored’

Disabled children were put at risk

COUNCIL bosses sent a man to work with disabled youngsters despite him being branded ‘dangerous’ by his colleagues at a children’s home, an inquiry has heard.

Philip Dolan, a child care officer and social worker for almost 30 years, said that a member of staff who was ‘passed from one children’s home to another’ in Glasgow in the early 1990s is now a convicted sex offender.

He claimed concerns were raised about the man by people who worked with him at a residential home in the city’s Newlands area – but instead of being investigated he was moved to a facility for children with learning disabilities.

Mr Dolan said the individual had since appeared in court ‘several times’ and been jailed for sex offences.

Giving evidence to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, the retired social worker said the man had been ‘very close’ to a senior manager at the former Strathclyde Regional Council.

Mr Dolan, former assistant area manager for the Glasgow South social work team, told the hearing in Edinburgh: ‘ A man, who I don’t want to name, worked as a residential care worker for the local authority. He is now a convicted sex offender.

‘Staff were expressing concerns about him and it seems that he got moved from a children’s home to a home for children with disabilities in the Pollokshields area and they were concerned how he had managed to get this. I am aware that this individual seemed to be very close to one of the most senior managers for the residential establishment and seems to have been passed from one children’s home to another – and that person must have

‘This guy was dangerous’

been aware of the history of this guy.

‘My concern is that there were people working in social work with a big question mark over why they were in there and how they managed to get in there.’ Asked what the nature of the social care worker’s complaint to senior management about the man had been, Mr Dolan replied: ‘His complaint was that this guy was dangerous. That’s how he put it.

‘History has shown the concerns of this guy to be correct. It is a concern of mine that this happened.’

Mr Dolan, who worked for social work departments in West Lothian, Lanarkshire, East Kilbride and Glasgow between 1968 and 1996, also told of a girl who was put in a care because she kept running away but then became pregnant while living in a children’s home.

Mr Dolan said: ‘It concerned me that a child who had come into care needing care and protection had got pregnant while she was in local authority care. I spoke to the worker who was dealing with the girl and got nowhere with her.

‘I then sent a memo to the district manager and he just dismissed it.

‘He faxed a memo back saying “why are you telling me? It has got nothing to do with me”.’

The national inquiry, led by Lady Smith, continues. It is set to report in 2019.