By Basant El-Faramawy
A childminder who admitted leaving more than 20 children alone and unsupervised in her home has been jailed for two years.
Amanda Mathewson, 55, pleaded guilty to wilfully neglecting, abandoning and exposing children in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury at her home in Dunfermline, Fife, in August 2024.
She was licensed to care for eight children under 16 at any one time. An internal Care Inspectorate probe found she had been tipped off about unannounced inspections by an unknown staff member.
Her offending came to light after concerned parents spied on her leaving the home without their children.
Sheriff John MacRitchie described her actions as a "gross abuse of a position of trust" and said she had "knowingly" created an environment where "injury, terror and neglect were obvious and foreseeable."
The court heard victim impact statements from affected children who reported suffering nightmares, anxiety and a distrust of childcare providers.
A Care Inspectorate spokesperson said Mathewson "broke the trust" of families and that inspection, complaints and conflict of interest procedures had been updated following feedback from affected parents.
Maria Lloyd, independent chairwoman of the Fife child protection committee, said a "learning review" would take place in the wake of the case.
