A Fife woman whose fundraising efforts helped pave the way for Scotland’s first children’s hospice has spoken of her disgust after a former male nurse at Rachel House admitted downloading indecent images of children.
Lorraine Dickson, 56, of Elliot Street in Dunfermline said she was “in shock” after she was told of the case of Stephen McCusker, 47, who appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Tuesday.
The married man admitted downloading 1,740 indecent images of children between December 2009 and November 2013 at his home on Julian Road, Glenrothes.
McCusker began working as a staff nurse at the Kinross hospice, which cares for terminally ill children, in June 2005.
He worked there for more than eight years until his offences came to light in November of last year.
The court was told that the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland, which runs Rachel House, said that there was no evidence that any child using the hospice had been harmed or involved.
Mrs Dickson, whose severely handicapped son Marc was one of the inspirations behind founding a Scottish children’s hospice, is calling for McCusker to face a lengthy prison sentence.
“He should be sent to the High Court,” said Mrs Dickson of McCusker, who will be sentenced next month.
Despite the assurances that no children at Rachel House had been involved in his crimes, Mrs Dickson said it was appalling that McCusker had worked there undetectedfor so long, having close dealings with vulnerable children.
“He worked there for eight years it is unbelievable what he did,” she said.
It was in 1991 that Mrs Dickson and Nancy Blaik, who also had a child with a terminal genetic condition, decided to start fundraising for their dream of a hospice and offers of help poured in as their goal struck a chord with the public.
The two women often exhausted after sleepless nights tending to their sons worked tirelessly to get the idea off the ground.
The backing of the Royal Mail and a £2 million donation from the McRobert Trust eventually helped turn the dream into a reality.
Sadly by the time Rachel House opened in 1996, Lorraine’s son Marc had passed away and was unable to benefit from the services himself.