Inquiry drives a 40pc rise in abuse probes

Police say historical allegations behind the increase

THE number of child abuse cases investigated by police has soared by nearly 40 per cent in the past year.

Police Scotland said the increase had been fuelled by allegations of abuse at orphanages and children’s homes.

These have been investigated by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI), together with claims about Nazareth House homes.

The figures illustrate the impact of the £17.7million investigation on policing.

Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘It is absolutely crucial that Police Scotland responds appropriately and speedily to these findings.

‘However, for such important procedural changes to occur, we all need reassurance that Police Scotland will receive sufficient resources and support from the Scottish Government.’

Police Scotland documents state that ‘a number of non-recent child abuse investigations were instructed, centred on various religious institutions, residential children’s care homes and special education schools’.

There was an ‘increase in crimes of cruel and unnatural treatment of children from 300 to 418’ – a rise of about 39 per cent. The figures compare the first half of this financial year (April-September) with the same period last year.

The report adds: ‘A number of these crimes are linked to Nazareth House or Smyllum [Park] which are currently being investigated as part of the SCAI.’

In October, Lady Smith, SCAI chairman, said children at Smyllum Park in Lanark and Bellevue House in Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, had been sexually abused, beaten and humiliated by ‘cruel’ nuns and their helpers.

Her damning report said vulnerable youngsters lived in a climate of fear and ‘coercive control’ at the orphanages.

The homes were run by nuns of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, which has offered a ‘heartfelt apology’.

A separate police investigation is under way over claims of abuse involving the Sisters of Nazareth, a Catholic order that came under investigation by the SCAI earlier this year.