Fife childminder sentenced to two years for child neglect

Amanda Mathewson was sentenced to two years in prison on November 6, 2026, after admitting offences involving the wilful neglect, abandonment and exposure of children in her care in Fife. The offences took place between September 2023 and August 2024, according to the court account reported at sentencing at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court. The charge said Mathewson offered childminding services for more children than she could reasonably care for at once and left children alone at her home. She had been permitted to care for up to eight children at a time. Reports said 27 children were found at the Dunfermline property at one point, including children under one year old; the offending also involved children at other locations in Dunfermline and elsewhere. A father whose two children were in Mathewson’s care told reporters that he and his partner watched her leave for a school run on August 26, 2024. They went to the property and found children unsupervised inside and outside, he said. The account was among details given by parents after the case came to light. The court heard that children had been left alone and that Mathewson’s conduct exposed them to unnecessary suffering or risk...