Carer 'abandoned' teenage girl then claimed she ran away
A care home employee who abandoned a teenager during a work-related trip then claimed she had run away, sparking a police search, has been jailed.
Graham Mackie was taking her on a round trip from the Scottish Borders to view a possible placement in the Midlands. On the way back he made an unauthorised detour and left her with her friend, but without her coat, purse, or phone. Appearing at Carlisle Crown Court, the 33-year-old admitted a child cruelty charge and was jailed for 15 months. The court was told that during her 18-hour absence Mackie made a false report that she had run away from a fast food restaurant in Carlisle. This prompted a cross-border search by officers from three separate forces, before she was found unharmed. Judge Peter Davies branded Mackie, of Church Street, Ecclefechan, Dumfries and Galloway, a "reckless, complacent, selfish and inconsiderate liar". He said: "This was not a case of bad judgement, this was a continuous abandonment."