Officials accused of wrecking successful project young offenders� scheme they deemed �elitist�

A HIGH Court judge has bitterly attacked social workers, accusing them of conspiring to destroy the successful work of an outward-bound scheme which rehabilitated young offenders.

The senior judicial figure's comments came after organisers of The Airborne Initiative, which closed in 2004 after a TV programme depicted unruly behaviour among young male recruits, presented proposals to the justice secretary Kenny MacAskill for the project to be revamped last week.

The judge accused officials of colluding with the local authorities to scupper the efforts of staff working on the original project, which they regarded as an "elitist" rival to their own work with offenders.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, because he fears his comments will be construed as "too political", the judge told the Sunday Herald: "The social work departments of various local authorities objected to Airborne from the start because they thought their little world' was being invaded.

"They thought Airborne was something to do with the elitist upper classes, which was completely untrue. It was a reality check for disadvantaged, messed-up young people who, if their behaviour was allowed to continue, could end up killing.

"It was making an excellent contribution to the criminal justice system and was quite unreasonably de-funded for political reasons.

"The number of young people we have in the High Court for serious criminal offences is appalling. What Airborne did was try to get hold of most of these unfortunate people - it's often not their fault - and try to unravel them from that life of crime.

"I have huge respect for the social work system, but I couldn't understand why a small percentage of people were in favour of having it Airbourne de-funded."

Former Labour justice minister Hugh Henry axed the project's £600,000 funding package after the 2004 BBC documentary Chancers depicted young people involved playing up to their "hard" image for the cameras with rowdy behaviour and drug-taking.

One of MacAskill's priorities after the SNP formed its minority administra-tion in May was to meet with the initiative's trustees to discuss ways of replacing it with a new scheme, which would be part of a more integrated approach to deal with issues involving young people.

The proposals will aim to address addictive behaviour over a period of three months, longer than the original nine-week scheme. The organisers are confident many of the former staff, who still work on rehabilitation programmes, will return to their old jobs if it is given the go-ahead.

Trevor Royle, the Sunday Herald's diplomatic editor and a trustee of the original scheme, said: "It's time-consuming and expensive, but society has to foot the bill and this couldn't be done for less than £600,000. We also need a quango. When we were an independent charity, we didn't have enough clout with the sheriffs. We have to make them realise there is a viable alternative to custodial sentencing."

Tony Burley, pictured left, Airborne's former general manager who now designs programmes to deal with challenging behaviour among the young, added: "Research has shown the outdoors accelerates rehabilitation greater than anything else. They need to get their heads clear, be away from the substances so they can think clearly in a manner that will allow them to change their lives."

The government said the proposals would be fully examined before any firm commitment is made.