Several council workers in Fife were sacked for accessing confidential social work files surrounding the tragic Mikaeel Kular case, it has emerged.
The Courier has learned that at least nine people were dismissed following an internal investigation into claims they had looked at documents about the three-year-old, who was found dead in Kirkcaldy in January 2014 after a large-scale police search.
Action was taken after overly inquisitive staff tried to find out more about thecircumstances behind Mikaeel’s deathwithout the necessary permission.
However, it remains to be seen whether or not a significant case review ordered just days after Mikaeel’s death the outcome of which is expected within a matter of weeks will determine if the tragedy itself could have been prevented.
In response to claims staff were indeed sacked for accessing records, Craig Munro, executive director of education andchildren’s services at Fife Council, would not confirm if any, let alone how many, workers lost their jobs following thecouncil’s internal investigation.
“We have a clear internal process for dealing with discipline issues and we don’t comment publicly on the individualcircumstances of staff,” Mr Munro said.
But sources have contacted The Courier to highlight that heads did indeed roll in the wake of the high-profile episode, although not in connection with the cross-agency review charged with seeing if Mikaeel’s death could have been avoided.
No date for the publication of thesignificant case review has been fixed yet but the Chief Officers Group of Fife andthe City of Edinburgh is said to be putting the finishing touches to its independent investigation.
It has looked at information available from files, records and procedures that were in place before the shocking events unfolded, while it has also touched oninformation that came to light duringsubsequent criminal proceedings.
Little Mikaeel’s body was found in woodland two days after he was reported missing from his home in Edinburgh by his mother Rosdeep Adekoya.
A massive search operation across northern Edinburgh had been undertaken, with hundreds of people volunteering to scour the area for any sign of the three-year-old. However, it later transpired that Adekoya had in fact already killed her son.
A court heard how she had lost hertemper after Mikaeel was repeatedly sick following a trip to a Nando’s restaurant in Edinburgh and had beaten him to death.
She wrapped him in a duvet and drove to a house in Kirkcaldy, just yards from which the youngster’s body was discovered by police, concealed in a suitcase.