THE husband of a woman killed by her 13-year-old foster child has said the couple were left "high and dry" by the social work department in the early weeks of the boy's placement.

Dawn McKenzie, 34, was stabbed by the teenager she and her husband Bryan were looking after at their home in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, in 2011.

At a Fatal Accident Inquiry into her death, Mr McKenzie, 40, said that they were given scant details about the boy's background and that there was very little planning over his move into their two-bedroom flat.

The boy, who was detained for seven years after admitting culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility, was placed with the couple at very short notice, the hearing was told.

The inquiry also heard that the transition was handled badly due to the haste with which his previous placement ended, travel chaos caused by 2010's severe winter weather and the boy's social worker going on annual leave.

Mr McKenzie said they were not made aware of the full extent of the boy's background until the end of January 2011, more than two months after the placement started.

It emerged that when he had been taken into care he had been sleeping on a trampoline, had no shoes and was living in a house frequented by drug addicts.

He had previously been subjected to "frequent acts of violence" including "smashing his head off units", Mr McKenzie said.

When the placement began, the boy would eat like "every bite was his last", gorging on sweets and refusing to share.

He would also frequently wet the bed but Mr McKenzie said this appeared to be an act of defiance "if he didn't get his own way", and they would often find the boy in dry pyjamas but with wet bedsheets.

He was in frequent trouble at school, including an incident where the boy claimed he and another boy "sorted out" someone who had been annoying him.

However, he showed signs of improvement including some merits at school, reading his first book and winning man of the match at football.

He was still allowed supervised contact with his mother but Mr McKenzie said this contact was "poorly managed" by social workers and the boy returned from visits in a low mood that would last for days.

It later emerged that he had been holding clandestine conversations with his family on Facebook and a social network gaming platform.

Mr McKenzie told how the boy was quiet at first but seemed normal given his circumstances, and Mrs McKenzie described him as a "lovely boy" in early reports.

But he later emerged to be "a compulsive liar, telling lots of tall tales", Mr McKenzie said.

A handover booklet from the previous carer revealed how he used to eat with his hands but the booklet said he had improved.

Mr McKenzie said: "That wasn't very accurate as he still didn't know how to use a knife and fork."

Mr McKenzie said if they had known more about the boy's background they would have still have taken the placement, but would have been "more cautious and better armed".

A note from the boy's supervision record, read out at the inquiry, laid out the problems surrounding the boy's move into the couple's home, stating: "The decision to move (the boy) was taken with such expediency due to the other carer's circumstances, and therefore was not managed as well as it could have been with little planning or preparation for (the boy)."

But Mr McKenzie said: "Reading it back, it's absolutely ridiculous. 'He's not here, she's not here'. How is anything supposed to get done if that is the carry-on? It's a joke. We were left high and dry, basically. It's ridiculous."

The inquiry in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, heard that Mrs McKenzie had previously worked at a private nursery in East Kilbride, and had been promoted to deputy manager before applying to become a foster carer.

The couple, who did not have children of their own, began looking into fostering in 2010 after Mrs McKenzie saw a newspaper advert and told her husband it was something she was interested in.

She enjoyed cooking, music and spending time with her family, the inquiry heard.

Mr McKenzie, said: "She was a very sweet, kind girl, very caring. She was a strong person as well, very determined and very hard-working."

A feedback form from a training course stated that Mrs McKenzie showed "excellent knowledge and understanding" and a reference from her employer described her as an "excellent child practitioner".

The hearing continues.