Family blames inquiry for victim's suspected suicide

The family of a victim of abuse in care has blamed the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) for his death after they refused to anonymise records of his evidence.

Kevin Sutherland, from Edinburgh, is thought to have taken his own life on 19 December last year but his body has not yet been found.

The 33-year-old previously waived his right to anonymity when he gave a statement to the inquiry but later pleaded with its chairwoman to reverse his decision.

A spokesperson for the inquiry said it had commissioned an independent review to consider all aspects of its interactions with Mr Sutherland.

He told the inquiry his time in care facilities - including foster care and secure care in Edinburgh, Musselburgh in East Lothian and Paisley in Renfrewshire - was "hell".

Mr Sutherland said he suffered sexual abuse during this time and said it led to his resorting to work as a male escort.

He said he also became addicted to medication he was taking to deal with his trauma.

His sister Melanie Watson said she felt "absolutely devastated" when she saw the correspondence between him and inquiry staff.

She has released the emails - first reported in the Daily Record - begging for his name to be removed from the online record of his statement in the hope that his case would not be forgotten.

Mr Sutherland - who left school with low reading abilities - signed a statement waiving his right to anonymity in 2022.

But he said he did not realise his evidence would appear in online search engines after a simple search for his name.

In his emails to the SCAI, which were backed up by a letter from his doctor, he repeatedly asked to have his name removed from the public record of his evidence.

Staff replied that Judge Lady Smith had "very carefully considered" his case and while she was grateful for his statement, given "with courage", she would not anonymise it.

Lady Smith did, however, offer to redact certain information such as previous names used by Mr Sutherland and references to underage sexual relations with police officers.

In response, Mr Sutherland wrote that he was "being held hostage by this matter".

He also warned his family could "take legal action against this organisation for disregarding my plea" if it led to him coming to harm.

Six days before Christmas Mr Sutherland posted a "final announcement" on social media and was last seen near the Queensferry Crossing.

Police launched a search of the River Forth but his body has not yet been found.

Ms Watson said the family were desperate to lay him to rest so he could have the peace he wanted.

She also said she was doing everything she could to "make sure he's not forgotten".

Ms Watson told BBC Scotland News: "I feel people need to know what's happened to him and what made him do what he did, and somebody needs to be held responsible for it.

"He was a really nice person - he had so much potential to have a good happy life.

"This was just taking over his whole life - from morning to night this is all he went on about, like he couldn't focus on anything else in life, he couldn't see anything good around him because of this, and this was the last final straw.

"He couldn't handle it any more."

His sister called for the inquiry to believe people who have "got to the point of telling you in a letter that they are going to do harm to themselves".

She added: "I hope that when vulnerable people are signing something like that - and sometimes they don't know what they are signing - they should have the option to to be able to go back on that and it should not appear on Google if they don't want it to."

The inquiry anonymity waiver has since been changed to warn that an evidence transcript "may appear prominently in online searches".

A spokesperson for the inquiry said: "Our thoughts are with the family of Kevin Sutherland and all of those who have been affected.

"In the interests of transparency, SCAI has commissioned an independent review to consider all aspects of its interactions with him."

The review is being carried out by Jason Beer KC, head of 5 Essex Chambers in London.

The co-founder of an abuse survivors' group said Mr Sutherland shared the details of his correspondence with the inquiry.

And Giles Moffat told BBC Scotland News sensed he was becoming "increasingly distraught".

Mr Moffatt received a final message from Mr Sutherland the night he went missing, urging him to keep fighting for justice for abuse survivors and asking him to make sure people hear his story.

He added: "At the moment, it looks like Lady Smith wants to mark her own homework.

"She has commissioned the review and gets first sight of draft findings.

"We will watch closely."

"I'm begging you here in writing to have this statement anonymised so I can finally just move on from all this.

"This is starting to have an extremely detrimental impact on me and my family.

"I've been confined indoors over this matter, and I cannot continue living like this. I need to have my name anonymised from that statement, so I can move forward with my life.

"I don't understand why the inquiry is prioritising a public interest matter over my well-being.

"In the unfortunate event of any harm befalling me due to the refusal to remove this statement, my family will likely then have grounds to take legal action against this organisation for disregarding my plea.

"I fail to comprehend why I am being held hostage by this matter.

"I am the sole individual affected by this, whereas there is no one on the opposing side indicating that the removal of the statement would greatly impact them.

"Please I'm begging you here in writing to have this statement anonymised so I can finally just move on from all this, I will never contact the inquiry again.

"Please just allow me this chance to put all this behind me once and for all."