A CARER would not have been stabbed to death by her foster son if he had been taken into care sooner, an inquiry has heard.

An expert report commissioned for the fatal accident inquiry into the death of Dawn McKenzie found that it could have been prevented if more prompt action had been taken by social workers.

It said that the boy was allowed to live with his birth family, where he suffered 'chronic neglect', for too long.

When he was taken into care by Glasgow City Council in 2008 he was sleeping on a trampoline, had no shoes, was living in a house frequented by drug addicts and had been subjected to 'frequent acts of violence'.

The boy was placed with Mrs McKenzie, 34, and her husband Bryan in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, in November 2010. He killed her in June 2011 at her home when he was just 13.

He was jailed for seven years in 2012 after admitting culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The expert report's author Kirsty McLean wrote: "I have little doubt that had he been removed from home a number of years earlier he would not have committed this dreadful, violent crime."

Kevin Brown, 53, a senior social worker at Glasgow City Council, told the inquiry there were failings in the case but denied swifter action could have prevented Mrs McKenzie's death.

He said: "If you look at it now we should probably have taken action at an earlier stage.

"I would be more inclined post this case not to leave children in a home like that for a significant period of time.

"I think it's too much of a jump to say if we had taken these steps it wouldn't have resulted in the death of Mrs McKenzie."

Mr Brown admitted social workers dealing with the boy should have found him a permanent care place before the killing rather then him being passed from one short-term foster placement to another.

He said workload pressures and structural changes in the social work department had distracted workers from the case.

The inquiry, which is being held in Motherwell before Sheriff David Bicket, continues.