Fornethy Survivors hit out at 'unbelievable' historic child abuse sentencing

For decades girls in Glasgow were sent to Fornethy House in Angus for residential respite care - however they suffered horrific physical and mental abuse.

Retired teacher Patricia Robertson, 77, was convicted of 18 charges of cruel and unnatural treatment at the High Court in Glasgow.

On Wednesday she was sentenced to three years’ supervision and ordered to stay in her room between 3pm and 12am. She has also been ordered to pay the 18 victims linked to her sentence £1,000 in compensation.

However some of the survivors of her abuse have told The Scotsman they are "absolutely gutted” she did not receive a custodial sentence due to her age.

Lynne Sheerin was beaten, force-fed and inappropriately touched during her six-week stay in 1975.

She said: “I am angry, hurt and deflated. I actually expected her to get a custodial sentence.

“She can sit at her table on Christmas Day and be normal, but we have had to carry this for 50 years and we will be spending our Christmas thinking about what happened.

“It is nothing compared to what happened at her hands. It is unbelievable that she walked out of that court room today.

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“I feel she has gotten away with it because she walked out. She didn’t even look sorry - she had the chance to apologise and she didn’t.

“She’s now away with her husband to enjoy the rest of her life with her wee ankle bracelet.”

Kelly Burns was sent to Fornethy House twice in 1984 and 1986. She said: “I am absolutely gutted, I can’t get my head around it.

“I don’t think it was justice at all because she is still able to live her normal life while we are all still suffering and not able to lead normal lives.

“I am absolutely devastated.

Read more: Multiple women to sue Scottish council over country school abuse

“She abused me - I was force-fed my own vomit, called names like ‘fatty’, and when the wellies left marks on my legs she would scrub them hard until I cried.”

Lorraine Heron went to Fornethy House with her sister in 1971. She said: “I am disheartened to say the least. I feel that the age of the person shouldn’t have had any bearing on the sentence.

“It is wrong, she should have had a custodial sentence.

“When we went to Fornethy House, as soon as we got on the bus we knew something was off.

“It went from bad to worse - we were petrified.”

Ms Heron said she was beaten “black and blue” with a bamboo stick and had her private areas scrubbed with a brush that should have been used to clean floors.

She said another girl had her hair cut by the staff so she looked like she had been in a “concentration camp”.

Carol Whyte, one of the other survivors, said: “I wanted her to receive a custodial sentence because when I was at Fornethy House it felt like a prison to me.

“However I never thought I’d see this day - I was actually believed.”

In handing down the sentence, Lord Judge Colbeck said: “The majority had never had a proper holiday before. They all thought their stay at Fornethy would be an adventure.

“They spoke of their excitement of going - such thoughts appeared to have ended when the doors closed and the horror began.

“It is clear you behaved in a cruel and sadistic manner. The examples are too numerous to mention.”

He added: "It is not an exaggeration to suggest that the behaviour contributed to what, in effect, was a life sentence for many or all of your victims."

He said the offences had passed the “custody threshold” but said a prison sentence could only be imposed on someone who had never been to jail before it was deemed there was no appropriate alternative.