Overview
- A jury at the High Court in Glasgow found Patricia Robertson, 77, guilty of cruel and unnatural treatment of 18 children for offenses committed between 1969 and 1984.
- Fornethy House in Angus operated as a short-term convalescent school for girls aged about five to 12, first run by Glasgow Corporation and later Strathclyde Regional Council.
- Survivor testimony detailed force-feeding of semolina and blancmange, hair-pulling, slapping and punching, confinement in a box, enforced walks while injured, and orchestrated humiliation including degrading songs.
- Robertson, now living in Witham, Essex, denied violence and described herself as strict, but jurors rejected her account after a three-week trial.
- Judge Lord Colbeck granted Robertson bail ahead of sentencing in December, as women who attended Fornethy and are now in their 50s and 60s embraced outside court after the verdicts.