A “sadistic” teacher who abused young girls in residential care over a 15-year period has been spared jail and ordered to pay £1,000 to each of her 18 victims.
Patricia Robertson, 77, was convicted of a spate of offences committed between 1969 and 1984 on girls as young as five at Fornethy House in Kilry, Angus.
Her abuse included punishments for wetting the bed, force-feeding, banging girls’ heads together and dragging children by their hair, the High Court in Glasgow heard.
Robertson, who was 21 at the time of her first offence, was convicted of cruel and unnatural treatment against 18 victims in October following a trial.
Many of her victims were in court on Wednesday and branded her sentence “disgusting” and an “absolute joke” from the public gallery.
The court heard how Robertson force-fed a nine-year-old girl – making her vomit, forced her to stand in darkness in a confined space and ridiculed her for wetting the bed.
She tied an 11-year-old girl to a bed and made her remove her underwear so she could be slapped and hit with a wooden implement, and also destroyed a postcard from her mother.
Robertson seized a child by the neck and forced her to stand against a wall, and banged a child’s head against a desk and dragged her by her hair.
She also used “derogatory language” towards an eight-year-old girl, forced a seven-year-old child to sleep in soiled bedding after ridiculing her for bed-wetting, and refused to allow another girl, seven, to use a toilet, causing her to wet herself.
Robertson was convicted of forcing a primary-age child to eat her own vomit after force-feeding her, and of slapping a child around the face, seizing her hair and dragging her by the ears.
She also forced a child aged between eight and 10 to walk despite having injured feet, and restricted her breathing by tightening her clothing, and made another child walk across rough terrain wearing only one boot.
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Judge Lord Colbeck said: “Your victims were aged between five to 12, mostly there due to poverty.
“Many of them spoke of excitement at going to Fornethy House. Those dreams ended when the door closed. It is clear you behaved in a sadistic manner to many young girls.
“You ridiculed children when they wet the bed, and force-fed children food, causing them to gag and vomit.
“You were in position of trust and responsibility and abused that.”
The judge said the offending was of “exceptionally high culpability” and victims had been left with trauma which amounted to “life sentences”.
He said Robertson, now known as Baxter, had shown “no insight” into her crimes.
Lord Colbeck added: “Your suggestion that the victims made allegations for financial reasons is frankly absurd and contradicts the evidence of a former colleague. There is no doubt the custodial threshold has been met.”
However, the judge imposed a supervision order for three years and also made a restriction of liberty order (OLR), meaning Robertson must stay within her home in Witham, Essex, between 3pm until midnight for 12 months.
He also ordered her to pay a total of £18,000 to the victims within the next two months.
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Rona Hargan, who spent time at Fornethy House between 1976 and 1979 and was one of Robertson’s victims, said the sentence was “too light”.
She described her time there as “hell” and called Robertson an “evil woman”.
“It was horrendous – and to get three years’ probation is an absolute joke,” she said.
“It was like a horror movie that you live constantly in your mind and we’ll live with this for the rest of our life.”
Another survivor said in a statement: “Patricia Robertson’s lack of remorse for hurting me and other helpless girls proves what a wicked woman she is. She is a shameful monster and she can’t hide from what she’s done.
“We were abused by her and bore witness to the violence we each suffered. Her being found guilty proves we have been heard and believed.”
Thompsons Solicitors is representing around 220 people who say they were affected by their time at Fornethy House and are pursuing civil claims. Legal firm Digby Brown is additionally supporting several other women.
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Faye Cook, procurator fiscal for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said Robertson should have “nurtured and supported” children but instead “inflicted lasting trauma through her criminal actions”.
She added: “It is now a matter of public record that she grossly violated her duty of care while holding a position of trust and power at Fornethy House.
“Her offending may have taken place several decades ago, but this type of abuse has never been acceptable and it should not have happened.”
