Childminder who left more than 20 children alone in her home jailed

Amanda Mathewson spent 30 years as a self-employed childminder

A childminder who admitted leaving more than 20 children she was caring for alone and unsupervised in her home has been jailed for two years.

Amanda Mathewson, 55, pled guilty to wilfully neglecting, abandoning and exposing children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to their health at her home in Dunfermline, Fife in August 2024.

An internal Care Inspectorate probe found Mathewson, who was been licensed to look after eight children under the age of 16 at any one time, had been tipped off about unannounced inspections by an unknown staff member.

Her offending only came to light after concerned parents spied on her leaving the home without their children.

Sheriff John MacRitchie said Mathewson had committed a “gross abuse of a position of trust” during sentencing at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.

He told her she had “knowingly” created an environment in which “injury, terror and neglect were obvious and foreseeable”.

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The sentencing hearing was told about victim impact statements from affected children who said they had suffered “nightmares, anxiety and a distrust of childcare providers”.

A spokesperson for the Care Inspectorate said Mathewson “broke the trust” of families.

They said “inspection, complaints and conflict of interest procedures” had been updated in following feedback from affected parents.

Maria Lloyd, independent chairwoman of the Fife child protection committee, said a “learning review” would take place in the wake of the case.

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