// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Neglect case childminder was 'master manipulator', say parents
Parents whose children were cared for by a childminder who has admitted neglect charges have described her as a "master manipulator".
Amanda Mathewson had been looking after many more children than she was allowed to - and at one stage left 27 youngsters alone and unsupervised at her home in Dunfermline.
Families told BBC Scotland that the 55-year-old had been "loved and trusted" in the community before her crimes came to light.
And they said it had been "incredibly traumatic" to learn that their children had not been getting cared for properly.
Mathewson pleaded guilty at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Tuesday to wilfully neglecting, abandoning and exposing children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to their health. She will be sentenced next month.
Mathewson has been a self-employed childminder for 30 years, providing services at her home for children under the age of 16.
One parent said she was regarded as "one of the best in the area".
"She was loved and trusted throughout the community," they told the BBC.
"Building an apparently unshakeable reputation as friendly, caring and trustworthy with the adults she encountered outside her home was part of how she concealed what was happening."
Childminder who left 27 children alone in her home pleads guilty to neglect