A CRIMINAL investigation against Fife Council’s social work department over its management of murderer Colyn Evans was never considered, the local authority has stressed.

Following recent reports of investigations by Strathclyde Police, the council has received confirmation from the Crown Office that there was no question it would be subject to an investigation.

Details of the Strathclyde investigation were given to a Sunday newspaper by an anonymous source.

It was alleged that Fife social workers had failed to act on warnings about Evans’s behaviour from Geilsland School, in Ayrshire, where he was a pupil before killing Tayport teenager Karen Dewar in January 2005.

It was also claimed social workers failed to pass on the warnings to police and wrongly claimed they did not have jurisdiction to act on Evans while he was at Geilsland, a unit for young people displaying inappropriate sexual behaviour.

Evans attended the school from December 2002 to April 2004 and while there had sex with other boys.

Fife Council chief executive Ronnie Hinds stressed that the Strathclyde investigation was into people at Geilsland School. He said, “The Crown Office has confirmed that at no stage did they consider bringing charges of criminal neglect against Fife Council as part of this review.

“The focus of the police investigation was on the conduct of individuals within Geilsland School, not Fife Council. The speculation around Strathclyde Police’s report has been misleading and the conclusions drawn inaccurate.”

Fife Council and Fife Constabulary conducted an internal investigation into the case, and a review was conducted by the Social Work Inspection Agency and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.

Mr Hinds said, “All the recommendations for Fife Council, including those related to communication between ourselves and Geilsland as highlighted in the SWIA/HMCI report, have been implemented as part of our action plan.

“We will also fully implement any national actions further recommended by SWIA. We cannot change what has happened but we can ensure that the lessons learned will be applied to make our procedures more robust.

“We will also seek to ensure that information about Fife Council’s handling of this case is reported accurately and responsibly,” he added.