AFTER the suicide of Francis McGeachie in 2013 in the weeks running up to Christmas his family were left devastated.

They have been seeking answers ever since to establish why a loving father and husband and a man dedicated to the education of the students at Coatbridge College would take his own life.

His widow Anita and wider family, including brothers Dr Bill McGeachie and the Rev Kenny McGeachie, identified the difficult merger of three colleges to form New College Lanarkshire as the backdrop for his suicide describing him as “isolated and exposed”.

A family statement said he felt “ostracised” and “humiliated” and unable to know who to trust. “Despite this, he continued to work hard to support the merger and the establishment of the new college,” the family said.

“Francis saw his future with New College Lanarkshire. He was 44 and felt that he had much to contribute to the future of the new college. He had no intention of leaving and when he thought he was being denied the opportunity of making such a contribution his world imploded. He was exhausted and devastated.”

As well as seeking answers the family also wanted to know whether any lessons could be learned about the merger itself which would prevent such a tragedy happening in future.

Agenda: what part did controversial college merger play in Francis McGeachie's suicide?

They approached Michael Russell, then then Education Secretary, who, in June 2014, asked Alex Linkston, the chair of Forth Valley Health Board, to investigate what happened at Coatbridge College in the run up to the creation of New College Lanarkshire.

His far-reaching report sheds light not just on the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr McGeachie, but also highlights serious issues over the wider governance of the college and the way severance payments were made to senior staff.

It is clear from the report the proposed merger of Cumbernauld, Motherwell and Coatbridge colleges was fraught from the beginning when Coatbridge sent proposals for a merger to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) which had not been seen by the other Lanarkshire colleges.

In 2011, the mediation service Acas was brought in to try to bring them back round the table and by January 2013 it seemed this had been successful, but Coatbridge used the first meeting of the newly-formed joint merger management group to withdraw.

Cumbernauld and Motherwell then announced the merger would go ahead anyway and in July Coatbridge rejoined.

This, Linkston identifies, amounted to poor governance. There was also a knock-on impact on staff, he said, with “disquiet and uncertainty.... exacerbated from the decision of Coatbridge to join the merger and then to depart” leaving senior staff feeling vulnerable.

Linkston also records the details of the voluntary severance scheme at Coatbridge, which is currently under investigation by the Scottish Parliament’s public audit committee.

The scheme, which saw some senior staff leave with inflated severance packages, has already been described by Auditor General Caroline Gardner as one of the most serious failures in governance she has ever encountered.

Linkston also highlighted the wider impact when details of the deal became public stating it put “significant pressure” on senior staff even though the scheme was withdrawn.

“Senior staff had to endure all the personal animosity from having a separate deal, although most of the senior staff had never asked for it,” he said.

On the key issue of restructuring, before leaving the college the outgoing principal appointed Mr McGeachie as depute principal, but although this appointment was announced, no formal letter was issued to him.

In November the new acting principal then submitted a report recommending the post of depute principal should not be filled and that the existing senior members of staff should share out the duties amongst them.

Linkston concluded: “My impression is that the arrangement seems to have been driven by the desire to carve up the depute’s salary among remaining senior staff. This is bizarre and unusual and in my view a further example of poor decision making.” Linkston found the cumulative effect of all these events “caused the senior management team to collapse”.

Despite these concerns, he concluded that the board of management had discharged its duty of care to staff in a reasonable way - although he added: “Whilst I recognise this was a period of rapid change and some uncertainty within the college, nevertheless certain decisions, practices and behaviours fell short of what I would expect in a well governed college.”

The family now want his recommendations to improve support for senior managers going through college mergers to be implemented in full.