COUNCIL chiefs spent more than £44,000 of public money to carry out a “secret” review into the death of a teenager stabbed at school.

Bailey Gwynne, 16, died after being stabbed was killed by a fellow pupil during a trivial row over biscuits last October at Cults Academy, Aberdeen.

His killer, now aged 17, was locked up for nine years after being found guilty of culpable homicide following a trial March.

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Earlier this year, an independent reviewer found Bailey’s death could potentially have been avoided if classmates had told teachers the boy who stabbed the teenager had been bringing weapons into the school.

The local authority appointed child protection chief Andrew Lowe, who was handed more than £37,000 in reviewer fees despite the full details of the report being withheld from the public whose money paid for his services.

A commercial public relations company was then employed to handle the publication of an 11-page summary of the report, which the council has refused to reveal the cost of.

The media specialists were from Glasgow, even though the local authority in Aberdeen employs five of its own experienced full-time staff to work in the communications department.

However, the total bill for over £44,000 includes £3,000 associated fees, £3,200 for food and £3,000 on a newspaper advertisement.

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Eleven ‘communication business advisers’ are also on the staff payroll tasked with working alongside the team in Aberdeen to assist with all council matters, including media queries relating to education and children’s services.

Eben Wilson, from Taxpayers’ Alliance Scotland, has condemned the council for spending the money without being held accountable to the public.

He said: “Clearly, this tragedy needed a sensitive and thorough investigation. However, it does look as if a lot of our tax money has been spent on managing the story to protect the council rather than an efficient and insightful, transparent report from which all can learn.

“Usually, being open and honest about terrible events like this and how they are being handled will inform the public better and prevent re-occurrences by encouraging widespread understanding and the adoption of best practice.”

Aberdeen City Council said it still hoped the contents of Mr Lowe’s report would one day be available for the public to read. A council spokesman said they were still going through the process of trying to get consent to publish information gathered in the report.

Bailey died after being knifed through the heart during a scuffle in a school corridor on October 28.

His killer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to nine years behind bars after being found guilty of culpable homicide following a five-day trial.

Mr Lowe was drafted in by Aberdeen City Council in the aftermath of the tragedy to see what, if any, lessons could be learned to prevent future incidents.His long-awaited report into the killing was due to be published earlier this year.

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But the 17,000-word document, which was compiled from interviews totalling 45 hours, ended up being cut to the 11-page summary.

Aberdeen City Council explained this was due to the “sensitive, confidential and legally restricted information” officers need the necessary permissions to publish before the full report can be publicly released.

Instead of the full, redacted report, the 11-page “press pack” that summarised Mr Lowe’s findings was released to the media in October – just short of the one-year anniversary of Bailey’s death.