A childminder who admitted deliberately neglecting and abandoning children in her care has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Amanda Mathewson, 55, repeatedly exceeded the registration limit of eight children. At one stage, 27 children were found at her home in Dunfermline, Fife.
Some children were discovered unsupervised in the garden, while others had been strapped into prams in an upstairs room.
The offences were committed at several addresses in Dunfermline and elsewhere between September 7, 2023, and August 26, 2024.
All of the victims were under 16, including some children aged less than one.
Mathewson took “various steps” to mislead parents and organisations about the way she was operating.
Among other tactics, she instructed parents to text before arriving to collect their children, allowing her to hide other children in rooms inside the house.
She was also alerted in advance to an unannounced inspection of her service, which led to a highly positive report from the Care Inspectorate.
Sheriff John MacRitchie told her she had committed a “gross abuse of a position of trust” and had “knowingly” created circumstances in which “injury, terror and neglect were obvious and foreseeable.”
At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court in October, Mathewson pleaded guilty to wilfully neglecting, abandoning and exposing children in a way likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to their health.
Amanda Mathewson, 55, (pictured) previously pleaded guilty to wilfully neglecting and abandoning children in her care, at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, where dozens of local parents attended
Mathewson took ‘various steps’ to deceive parents and organisations about her conduct
At the same court on Friday, Sheriff MacRitchie imposed the two-year prison sentence.
Mathewson, who was in court wearing a black dress, showed no visible emotion as the punishment was announced.
Dozens of parents attended the hearing, while more than 20 others watched through an online feed.
Police became involved after two parents grew suspicious when they were told Mathewson had been seen on a school run without their child, who was also supposedly in her care.
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They went to the school and discovered their child was not with her. The parents then travelled to Mathewson’s home, where they found children alone, shut away and screaming.
When officers arrested her, Mathewson was caring for 15 children under 12, including ten below primary-school age and two under the age of one.
Her registration allowed her to care for eight children at a time, with no more than six under 12 and only one under 12 months.
The court heard in October that some children became “upset” when they were taken to Mathewson’s home.
Parents also raised concerns that children were not being fed properly and sometimes returned home thirsty. Other complaints included children being brought back in dirty nappies.
Parents repeatedly reported seeing Mathewson in public with fewer children than the number she was supposed to be supervising.
On one occasion, she attended a church Christmas party with three children despite having nine in her care that day. She was also seen at a sports day and during a visit to Dunfermline fire station with fewer children than she was responsible for.
Court documents stated that Mathewson played loud music and prevented parents from entering the property at drop-off times in an effort to “conceal how oversubscribed she was”.
Mathewson had worked as a self-employed childminder for around 30 years before her arrest in August 2024.
Just weeks before the offending began, she received a glowing assessment from the Care Inspectorate after an unannounced inspection on August 7, 2023.
However, a subsequent Care Inspectorate investigation found that an unidentified staff member had warned her about the inspection.
The service was rated “very good” across all measures. The report said the children were cared for in a “comfortable, welcoming and homely environment” with “warmth, kindness and a nurturing approach”.
It said: “Amanda Mathewson operates a childminding service from their home in a residential area of Dunfermline, Fife.
“The childminder may provide care to a maximum of eight children at any one time under the age of 16, of whom a maximum of six will be under 12, of whom no more than three are not yet attending primary school and of whom no more than one is under 12 months.”
This is a breaking news story and is being updated.
